June 2016 ~ New Blood test for bTB developed at Nottingham University

The new blood test has been developed by a team at the University of Nottingham
led by Dr Cath Rees, an expert in microbiology in the School of Biosciences, and by Dr Ben Swift from the School
of Veterinary Medicine and Science.
The test is to show detectable levels of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis in an animal's blood. The research has been published online
in the
medical journal "Virulence". (See
tandfonline.com) The Nottingham researchers are using the blood test to conduct the first animal trial
of experimentally infected animals to determine exactly how soon this test can detect bTB infection.
Dr Rees is quoted in sciencenewsline.com

"The test also offers the potential for new, better tests for other farm animals. We are directly detecting the bacteria
and so the method will work using blood samples from any animal species - so far we have detected mycobacteria in the blood of cattle,
sheep and horses, but it could also be used for deer, goats or llamas... the hope is that we can help improve
herd control by finding animals at the early stages of infection and helping farmers control outbreaks of bTB more rapidly."

The group has patented an improved version of the method that delivers results in just six hours.

See
Defra site "From 1 April 2016, farmers in England will be able, via a private veterinarian and with prior APHA approval,
to submit blood samples for TB testing to an APHA laboratory at their own expense. The private blood test will be
available in a limited number of scenarios outside of the government-funded testing programme, where farmers seek additional
assurances as to the TB-free status of animals over and above those afforded by statutory testing."

January 15th 2016 ~ A new genetic index will be published on Tuesday, which aims to help UK farmers to select for cows
with reduced susceptibility to bTB

The response to this by the Farmers Union of Wales (See FUW website) includes this quotation from their
Senior Policy Officer, Dr Hazel Wright:

"...Whilst genetic improvements in this field may provide farmers with additional armoury in their attempts
to reduce susceptibility to bovine TB, there can be no doubt that, had the current Welsh Government
heeded the advice of its own experts in terms of addressing the disease reservoir which exists in badgers,
levels of bTB would be lower than they currently are.."

December 10th 2015 ~ Warmwell.com has to take a break.

Apologies (and Happy Christmas to all - with especially warm
wishes to those having a difficult time at the moment). In the meantime, please do look at our page about the
ground-breaking reearch into bTB diagnosis
by Professor Liz Wellington, and wonder, as we and many others do, why there has been such a deafening silence about its usefulness and practical application from both DEFRA and the NFU.

December 2nd 2015 ~ Badgers and hedgehogs

The relationship between badgers and hedgehogs is a subject which has had quite
a lot of coverage
in the press recently. In the Krebs Randomised Badger Trials(1998-2005)
an attempt was made to monitor the effects that removing badgers had on the local ecosystem.
It was recorded that "hedgehog numbers more than doubled during the culling period and continued to
increase over the last year, suggesting that badger predation could limit hedgehog numbers". The attached
British Ecological Society
paper (pdf) (Micol, Doncaster & Mackinlay 2012) concludes that

"The gradual increase in badger numbers this century in Britain,
facilitated since the 1970s by legal protection (Cresswell, Harris & Jefferies 1990), may have serious consequences
for the survival of hedgehogs in rural areas... The persistence of hedgehogs in regions inhabited by badgers depends on their
ability to survive in pockets of land too small to sustain badgers, or avoided by them..."

A 2005 paper from the Journal of Zoology (pdf)
(Young, Davis et al. 2005, p.355) is in agreement with results from previous surveys and experimental studies, which found
"a strong negative spatial relationship between hedgehogs and badgers". "...both the probability of
occurrence and hedgehog abundance in amenity grassland fields declined as regional badger sett density in surrounding areas
increased. In areas of high badger sett density, the likelihood of hedgehogs occurring in these sites was predicted to decline towards zero.’

The World Health Organisation has called on all countries to review their BCG usage
to ensure that countries with the highest human TB rates receive priority and to target humans who have the greatest need
for BCG vaccination. The
South Wales Argus reports that one badger vaccine equates to 10 human adult doses or 20 human infant doses. Consequently,
the Deputy Minister for Farming and Food, Rebecca Evans, has decided to suspend vaccination until the global supply for humans
is adequate. The only company that has the marketing authorisation to produce Badger BCG is the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark,or SSI.
The Welsh badger vaccination project, funded by the Welsh Government, cost £2.8 million to administer over its first three years.

November 24th 2015 ~ Cattle farmers would much prefer to cull only infectious badger setts - the Warwick qPCR tests make this possible - but are ignored by DEFRA

DEFRA has always maintained that the reason why they cannot just target infected badgers is because,
according to DEFRA, they cannot tell which are diseased and which healthy. The Warwick research (See research
and details) is a game-changer since it

is a non-invasive qPCR screen of badger latrines, so that healthy badgers can be left alone

can achieve 95.5% sensitivity and 98.2 % specificity.

which makes the test better than anything we have already in terms of detecting disease and avoiding false positives

"As cattle farmers, some with experience of herd restrictions due
to TB breakdowns, we would much prefer to cull out only infectious badger groups, leaving
the healthy ones alone. This attitude was also reported by officials of the Wildlife Unit,
who found farmers extremely reluctant to sign up to any cull of badgers which did not discriminate
between diseased and healthy groups.
Gloucestershire dairy farmer, Nigel Finch is one farmer with
experience of Warwick University's qPCR sett screen test.
He commented on its result when used on his farm:

"We have used it, and had we been able to destroy the one sett
which tested positive, out of 15 on this farm, we would probably not have lost 38 cattle on a recent test."

Our Ministry's message has always been "We can't tell infected badgers, from healthy ones".
And now they can.
But will they use it?"

November 23rd 2015 ~ "unless we change things we are going to be in exactly the same place in ten years as we are now." Graeme Cock 2015

When one remembers that ten years ago, the then Shadow DEFRA Minister, Jim Paice was saying in December 2005 - (source)

"..unless the
Government gets a grip we will soon see cattle free zones. The whole farming world
believes the Government has spent 8 years putting off a difficult decision. Unless
robust measures are taken, badgers, cattle and farmers will continue to suffer."

- the words of South Devon beef and dairy farmer Graeme Cock in late November 2015, sound even more desperate.
Quoted in the
Western Morning News he suggests that if a group of farmers working with a "genuinely engaged"
government minister were to devise a workable bTB eradication strategy they would be able to roll it
out over five years.
(Extracts) :

" ...governments for the last 30 years have piddled around the edges or
brushed it to one side. They have never really grabbed it by the scruff of the neck because they are scared,
and have never fully understood the impact the disease has at farm level. Does it really have a modicum of integrity
without cross-party agreement? That policy still has at least 23 years to run. That takes in up to five successive governments
and probably 10 ministers. How on earth is anyone going to be able to deliver that?"

Like many who have watched in dismay as the disease has been able to spread its misery to increasing numbers of farms across the country, Mr Cock wonders

"...Why is a badger held in higher regard than a rabbit,
fox, deer – or cow, for that matter?
It is a real drain on the agricultural economy... If we could knuckle down, take pain now but know that in a reasonable timeframe
we would eradicate this disease, farmers would accept it. That is what we have to do.
..unless we change things we are going to be in exactly the same place in ten years as we are now."

He feels that the
Exeter University research
(see below) and other academic papers about bTB fail to engage with the "larger debate" and
ultimately "change nothing". Read
Western Morning News article in full. It seems utterly bizarre to many, however, that something with the positive potential of
the new PCR tests from Warwick, published in July (See research
and details)
- i.e. over four months ago - have been met with apparently dismissive silence by both
the government and the NFU. (Informed comment welcome.)

November 12th 2015 ~ Does the 5 point plan leave out fundamental points about fodder?

A new bTB campaign is due to be launched today by George Eustice at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire with emphasis on the
5-point "biosecurity" plan.

Restrict contact between badgers & cattle

Manage cattle feed and water

Stop infected cattle entering the herd

Reduce risk from neighbouring herds

Minimise infection from cattle manure

Many would want to add to that, or at least clarify its first two points.
The Exeter study (see below) warns about the implications of intensification
and shows how important
is the problem of fodder and particularly maize (sweetcorn), a crop known to be highly attractive to badgers (and also known to be
deficient in two vital
trace elements – selenium and iodine):

"For every 10 hectares of maize - a favourite food of the badgers that play a role in transmitting the disease
- bTB risk
increased by 20%..."

One retired vet, who has long been worried about the increase in maize production and considers that changes in agricultural practice
must play a part in bTB, says:

"I stood in a farm yard the other day with one of my old clients sons and we counted seven empty
Dairy Farms with not a living creature on them. I told him his father would turn in his grave
if he could see old cars dumped in his immaculate cowshed.
We need a return to mixed agriculture for the sake of the land and the people."

And another vet today points out that:

"...bTB can be attracted via fodder (grass/hay, corn/maize and even silage ) where badgers have been.
Not all the grass, maize and silage grows within the "bio-secured" areas!"

A farmer from Wiltshire adds,"The fact that
the huge expansion of the area of forage maize grown, the legal protection of badgers and the upsurge
in bTB all started about the same time cannot be a coincidence."

November 11th 2015 ~ Do intensive farming practices make bTB otbreaks more likely?

"Intensive farming practices such as larger herd size, maize growth, fewer hedgerows and the use of silage
have been linked to higher risk of bovine TB...A study by the University of Exeter, funded by BBSRC
and published in the Royal Society journal Biological Letters, analysed data from 503 farms
which have suffered a TB breakdown alongside 808 control farms in areas of high TB risk....
The team found that farms with herds of 150 cattle or more were 50% more likely to suffer a bovine TB outbreak than those with herds of 50 or fewer. Patterns of crop production and feeding were also important, with the risks increasing with practices linked with higher productivity systems.
For every 10 hectares of maize - a favourite food of the badgers that play a role in transmitting the disease - bTB risk increased by 20%. The feeding of silage was linked with a doubling of the risk in both dairy and beef systems. Landscape features such as deciduous woodland, marshes and hedgerows were also important. For example, on farms with 50km of field boundaries, each extra 1km of hedgerow was linked with a 37% reduction in risk. This is likely to be because there is less contamination of pasture by badger faeces and urine in hedgerow-rich areas. Marshland was associated with increased risk, possibly as a secondary effect of infection with liver fluke - a disease linked with wet environments and which interferes with the diagnosis of bTB in cattle...."

"...If lower intensity production means better animal health, it offers a sustainable long-term strategy in high risk areas....This is the first large-scale study to link a range of landscape-scale habitat features and farming practices with bTB."

Read in full

October 27th ~ Brian May's appeal: High Court judge denied the application for a judicial review

The Telegraph reports that Brian May:"has failed in his bid for a judicial review into the legalities of badger culling.
The animal rights campaigner has had his appeal against a High Court ruling that turned down his first judicial review request rejected.
May had persued legal action after badger culls began in Dorset and continued in Somerset and Gloucestershire."

October 21st ~ "livestock farming families are bearing the brunt of a crisis that has already been going on for far too long" WMN

In today's
Western Morning News article which focuses mainly on the methods used by Dominic Dyer to promote the anti-cull arguments of
the Badger Trust, it is interesting to
see that the final sentence reminds readers that the bTB crisis is no nearer an end now than it was when we started reporting it here in 2005. What is very hard to understand is
why there has still been no positive reaction from DEFRA or the NFU to the
research by Professor Liz Wellington which demonstrates a highly successful and non-invasive way of checking for bTB in the environment and particularly in the vicinity of badger setts.
As Professor Wellington told Farming Today:

""It's more sensitive than previous tests and it's non invasive...you don't need to trap
the badgers and take blood from them and disturb them. It's also better because it
measures a much greater level of the population
because we measure infection in a lot of faeces in a latrine. And you
can also look at contamination of pasture, contamination of food supplies, contamination
across
the whole farm where the setts are established."

It is very difficult not to suspect that a certain amount of misinformation and
misunderstanding has muddied the waters. Scientists are very careful to use precise terms, often hard for laymen such as busy
farmers and sound-bite oriented politicians fully to comprehend.
Even so, the apparent total lack of interest in what has been called "groundbreaking" research is astonishing when the crisis has been getting worse for a decade, has cost millions, and continues to cause utter despair
to those affected.

October 12th ~ Scotland's new legislation will extend the regime of TB controls to specified non-bovine animals, including alpaca,
sheep, and farmed deer.

This is important because alpacas and llamas can spread bTB particularly fast, and themselves
die from the disease very quickly. Because this is so, it is very surprising that government agencies do not impose compulsory testing of camelids in the fight against bTB.
Although there have not
been any bTB incidents reported in Scotland since 1992 the new Scottish regulations would come into effect should there be an outbreak. No compulsory testing, even of camelids,
is yet envisaged in Scotland.
See
BVA's news release. It is interesting that the President of BVA Scotland mentions the danger of bTB spreading to humans.
She says,

"We know that the disease in South American Camelids has an
extensive and aggressive pathology, and has zoonotic potential,
so these new controls show the foresight of the Scottish Government in animal welfare and agriculture as well as human health."

October 8th 2015 ~ "Prof Elizabeth Wellington's sensitive, accurate and
quantitative PCR could be a game changer if it was used to understand
the situation."

" Prof Elizabeth Wellington's sensitive, accurate and
quantitative PCR could be a game changer if it was used to understand
the situation.I am not sure whether it is possible to do sufficient
sequencing on the PCR sample to follow individual strains by sequencing
their genes- rather as done for the outbreak of FMD in 2007 to generate
the farm sequence of infections. Whole genome sequencing is being done
in outbreaks of bacterial infection such as MRSA in a hospital to
understand the outbreak and record its source and termination. But the 2
molecular techniques could cast a powerful light.
Prof Wellington's PCR could by itself go a long way..."
(Read email in full)

October 7th 2015 ~ "..how can the drop of some 60 per cent in herds under restriction - become so skewed after its journey through a computer?"

The Bovine TB Blog today
points out that Professor Christl Donnelly, of Imperial College, explains in her
paper (mentioned in the post below here)
that

"Herds under restriction for four or more months of the reporting period due to an incident
that started before the reporting period were excluded from the analyses."

In other words, it would seem that farms
which had previous and ongoing bTB disease were
excluded from analysis of how effective the culling had been. So, for example, one particular herd, with a history of bTB
and restrictions at the time culling began, but which after culling
had its third clear test in a row, would have been ignored when the "scientific"
analysis of how effective the culling had been was done.
We can only quote - and concur with - the blogpost's comment about "statistical wizardry"

".....from BSE, to FMD
the RBCT and now these pilot badger culls. Whatever statistical wizardry has been employed,
the first question asked of its results should surely be 'does it adequately reflect the situation on the ground?'
Because if it does not, it is not only meaningless, it is misleading and wrong."

October 1st 2015 ~ Somerset and Gloucestershire 2013-2014 - "the practicalities and impact of the intervention"

Annex just added to Surveillance Report for England (2013) by C.A Donnelly et al funded by Defra research project SE3131
(pdf) The title promises more than the text does, unfortunately. Extract: "...as only two intervention areas have been licensed to date,
and only a single years’ worth of follow-up data is available for analysis here,
it is so far unwise to draw any firm conclusions about the impact of the badger culls on cattle bTB incidence.
Additionally, this analysis does not include an exploration of other factors related to bTB incidence
which may influence the association between the intervention and bTB incidence.
A more robust multivariable analysis which explores the effect of other bTB risk factors will be considered once more data
is available."
Read pdf We wait, apparently in vain, for any comment or movement from DEFRA about the breakthrough
work on non-invasive PCR analysis of badger setts. Research and details of the tests

September 7th 2015 ~ A way to bring the opposing sides together - but DEFRA's silence continues...September 25th...and continues...

It provides a pretty much foolproof way of identifying infected wildlife, and especially badger setts. Using non-invasive PCR to check for the bacterium
in badger droppings in
the vicinity of a sett means no need to trap, no need to stress the animals - and above all, no need for the random killing of
badgers in the cull areas.
We are not alone in wondering why on earth there has been so very little reaction to the Warwick Research, led by Professor
Liz Wellington, painstakingly carried out over ten years, paid for largely with taxpayers' money, and brought to an extraordinarily successful conclusion.
The research and details of the tests were publicised in July.
It is now September.
Perhaps a clue for DEFRA's reluctance to get moving comes from the latest
bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk posting.
It points out that

"...if Defra used the research - into the identification of infected setts, for which the taxpayer has paid,
then all of this long running farce would have to stop. And it would, as once an infected area and group of animals is identified,
by international statute,
Defra have to act on that information. They have no choice."

In other words, the Department would be in inescapable legal trouble if they failed to act, once infection was known to be present.
At present, all responsibility, and indeed blame, can be laid at the door of farmers themselves for what the public is encouraged to think of as poor "biosecurity".
Meanwhile,
Farmers Guardian Insight reports on the continuing exodus of working farmers in Britain. At a time when many parts of the
country produce little more than
financial services and the growth of debt, this may be thought disastrous.

The news release may be seen in full
here.
It says: "As part of our measured approach to tackling bovine TB and achieving disease control benefits Natural England
has authorised targeted badger culls in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Dorset this year." No mention at all is made of the possibility of
making use of the new, successful and non-invasive PCR tests to identify infected badger setts
- the work developed by Professor Wellington at Warwick University and funded by DEFRA itself - a breakthrough
that could surely bring both sides in this long-running and distressing debate together.
The proposals today are

Introducing compulsory testing for all cattle entering low-risk areas, such as the north and east of England

Changes to the criteria for future badger control licences such as reducing the minimum area for a licence

Pointed out many times on this website is the fact that alpacas are particularly susceptible to the disease.
As the
FGInsight fact sheet points out:
"Once a bovine is infected it does not immediately start spreading the disease.
TB develops very slowly and it takes time for lesions to grow in the lungs –
and these lesions have to open up before cattle start coughing out the bacteria."
Unlike cows however, camelids spread the disease quickly to those with whom they come into contact. Unlike cattle,
alpacas die very quickly
when they contract bTB.
Alpacas often move around the country in order for mating to take place. Yet testing STILL remains voluntary.
The multi-antigen Enferplex assay for bTB whose advent was greeted over a year ago.
was developed by the Dorset-based 'SureFarm'
veterinary group after llama and alpaca owners approached them for help. The test is said to
work well for llamas and alpacas, but in addition to camelids, could be used equally well for cattle, goats, pigs and wild boar,
deer and badgers.

August 27th 2015 ~ Virologist Dr Ruth Watkins: "I am so glad that Prof Wellington has been working with DEFRA to do this qPCR work and
I highly commend her for it."

Dr Watkins' email can be seen here. She recalls, at a CLA meeting a decade ago, "how unbelieving and
dismissive the badger ecologists at Woodchester had been to Professor Wellington's work. As a virologist, Ruth Watkins raises
aspects of the work that she feels are important both from the point of view of a farmer and as a microbiologist.

August 26th 2015 ~ BBC Farming Today and the new "game-changer" Badger Test. "It really is a major breakthough in terms of tackling the disease,"
says Professor Wellington

"After more than a decade of work, scientists have developed
a test which they say could be a game-changer....the PCR test can detect whether badgers using a particular sett are infected with bTB
and, crucually, spreading or shedding the disease. The research is also underway to establish whether the test
could be used to map the disease in cattle through screening of slurry or even milk. Professor Elizabeth Wellington
at the university of Warwick led the research to develop the PCR test for badger setts. She explained why she believes
the test on badger faeces is a significant step forward.

"It's more sensitive than previous tests and it's non invasive...you don't need to trap
the badgers and take blood from them and disturb them. It's also better because it
measures a much greater level of the population
because we measure infection in a lot of faeces in a latrine. And you
can also look at contamination of pasture, contamination of food supplies, contamination
across
the whole farm where the setts are established." Asked whether the test could
be used as an alternative to culling, targetting just the infected setts, Prof Wellington explained:

"The way in which we control the disease and prevent the spread is
a question of integrating all the methods of establishing bTB-free herds." It is not any question of lack of accuracy
" it's to do with the impact on movements,
because you get a lot of badger movement, so the way we regard it is that farmers
can improve their bio-security, they can establish if they have contaminated pastures and they can establish which setts
are shedding on their land."Farmers, she said, could move cattle away from
infected pasture. "We consider very important the environment as a route of
transmission. Because at the moment, nobody has really done a full-scale monitor of infection
across the main areas - South West and Wales - we could do this.
This test, if it's done in a high through-put way
is relatively cheap."

Prof Wellington said that her results were good enough
to counter any criticism
that PCR hasn't in the past been "reliable enough" in the field.

"We've done a number of validations, both across Europe in different labs and within the UK
and we've now published all that data. It's freely available for everyone to read."

August 26th 2015 ~ Will DEFRA use the new test? Farming Today. "..it's something we need to put into action as quickly as we can"

When asked whether DEFRA, after having funded the research, had "committed" or "given any indication" of whether it will be using this test, Professor
Wellington replied that she was "not aware of anything at the moment". She agreed that the silence from DEFRA was
frustrating for the team and for
both wildlife enthusiasts and farmers. Anna Hill pointed out that the disease costs the country
"hundreds of millions of pounds over the years" Professor Wellington replied that her team and many other people
believe that the new test

"really
is a major breakthrough in terms of tackling the disease...
we can map out, throughout the season, shedding in both cattle and badgers.
So I really think it's something we need to put into action as quickly as we can"

Anna Hill then reported that DEFRA had told Farming Today that they were "assessing the study" before
deciding what action to take. One can only hope the assessors are able fully to appreciate the importance
of this ten-year study. (
Listen here about 8.40 minutes into the programme)

August 23rd 2015 ~ Farmers in hotspots "attempt to comply with some of the most ridiculous and imaginative obstacles" -
and yet a highly effective test exists...

...to identify bTB infected badger setts.
So why the continuing silence on PCR? Its method allows M. bovis infections in badger populations to be monitored
without trapping and provides additional information on the quantities of bacterial DNA shed.
The latest posting from the bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk
shows how very mistaken were those who poured doubt on a project "commissioned by Defra, paid for by us, the taxpayer" which
"met with a deafening silence"...ie Professor Wellington's paper on PCR (pdf)
which has now been published in full in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2015. Its conclusion, explains the post, describes a

" non invasive field test,
offering 100 per cent sensitivity using latrine fecal samples taken in the summer,
with which to identify those badger groups causing most of the upspill into other mammals, farmed or companions.
A targeted management strategy.
The cost, Prof. Wellington puts at around £200 per sett tested (20 samples)"

August 7th 2015 ~ After bTB is discovered at a dairy farm in the east of the country,
Belgium is now testing animals at about 150 other farms

As the Reuters report says, "Controlling bovine tuberculosis is especially difficult in areas where
cows can come into contact with wildlife."

August 6th 2015 ~ Anti-cull activists say the DEFRA maps will help them to target farms during future culls.

DEFRA's "valuable tool" is certainly proving so for those anti-cull groups who want to identify farms in the cull areas, target farmers, and stop future badger culls. See
FG Insight
Below, we deplored what must seem to many farmers' families the utterly thoughtless publishing of an interactive map whose data can identify
any farmer in the bTB hotspots. The
Western Morning News recently mentioned one anti-cull "activist" who breached the injunction designed to protect farmers
and their families from harassment and intimidation. He was heard to say he did not care if farmers or people living in the
cull areas were frightened by the actions of people like himself. The same man is quoted by the FG defending the tactics used by activists, "saying farmers
and their families in the cull zone could expect to be followed if they left their house at night time 'because it is assumed
they are going to be shooters'..."
FG Insight quotes NFU deputy president Minette Batters
who has urged Defra to consider scrapping its interactive bovine TB (bTB) map since there are growing concerns among farmers.

"We know the level of intimidation
and harassment that has gone on in the cull areas. If that is getting worse due to the interactive map,
the site needs to be taken down.We would have to bring an end to it. You can’t allow farmers to go through it.
They have got enough to deal with disease, let alone the thought they are going to be targeted and their families harassed."

See the story at
Western Daily Press
(He mentioned also the culling of badgers in France where bTB is on the increase. As it stands at present, French law demands the culling of an entire herd where bTB is found. There is a new acceptance of the need to monitor
and test badgers post-mortem and, according to recent newspaper reports, an increasing fear that France will lose
its "TB free" status.)

July 26th 2015 ~ The three West Country hot spot areas for bovine TB; Devon, Dorset and Cornwall – have submitted
applications to Natural England

See
WMN
"...Farmers in the South West, where more than 1,300 herds are currently affected by bovine TB,
have been frustrated by delays to the promised roll-out of the cull as part of the Government's
25-year bovine TB eradication strategy..... there is understandable secrecy around the details of roll-out.."

July 20th 2015 ~ "That is a pretty hard hitting letter, but events over the last decades reinforce Mr. Denny's views."

If you have not already read it, the latest blog post from
bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk is itself hard-hitting as it discusses the recent letter in the Farmers Guardian
from the vet David Denny B.VET.MED.M.R.C.V.S. and the interactive map put on line by DEFRA (see also below on delayed "consultation") Extract from the bovinetb blog:

"....NFU Deputy President Minette Batters
said the new website would 'help farmers find out about any ongoing bTB breakdowns near their farms which will help
them make informed business decisions'. No it won't. It is inaccurate and doesn't include TB breakdowns in alpacas, sheep, pigs, goats,
bison or any other grazing animal. It ignores up to 1500 farms whose TB restrictions occurred prior to SAM data being lobbed to Oxford University to play with.
All that was necessary was the provision on a TB99 to inform immediate neighbours of a TB breakdown.This high resolution map
is dangerous and divisive and serves no useful purpose at all, except to advertise to the world what a weak
and supine administration we have in this country when it comes to dealing with badgers infected with tuberculosis."

The blog post
deplores (as we do, below) the publishing of the map with data that can identify any farmer in the bTB hotspots - particularly when one anti-cull "activist" who
breached the injunction designed to protect farmers and their families from harassment and intimidation was heard to say he did not
care if farmers or people living in the cull areas were frightened by the actions of people like himself. (See
Western Morning News ) The post concludes, with very little hope, that "the best thing the NFU could do now
would be to invoke Data Protection, consider the Human Rights of its livestock members caught between Brock and a hard place,
and lobby Defra to take the damn thing down".

July 17th 2015 ~ The Northern Ireland Badger Group has "cautiously affirmed its support" for the TVR project

The Banbridge area of Northern Ireland will be testing captured badgers for bovine TB, humanely euthanising those that test positive,
while those that are clear will be vaccinated and released. The TVR project (test, vaccinate or remove) will cull only those badgers that are shown to be bTB positive. See more at
www.banbridgeleader.co.uk

The Tory party's pre-election manifesto promised to make progress in implementing the 25-year TB strategy.
According to NFU deputy president, Minette Batters, DEFRA is facing an angry backlash from farmers throughout the country
who feel that nothing is being done.
The launch of a consultation outlining proposals for increasing cattle controls in England has been delayed without explanation.
It was to have sought views on plans to introduce compulsory post-movement testing for cattle coming from high risk and edge areas
into those of low risk, and a proposal to tighten TB status definitions in the high risk areas, and also possibly the rules
covering units licensed to finish cattle from TB-infected herds. All that has been done recently is the publication by DEFRA
of a new interactive
online map showing the locations of TB breakdowns in England over the past five years. It shows which farms are still under restrictions and which no longer are. Only breakdowns in cattle herds are shown.
Minette Batters has pointed out that anyone can consult the map. In view of the difficulties some farmers have faced in the pilot culls, this could prove to be a problem.

July 10th 2015 ~ A coalition of farming and veterinary organisations has submitted proposals to Defra for an industry-led TB board

In the face of ever growing disillusionment at the lack of action from the government, the document, signed by NFU, the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers,
Livestock Auctioneers Association, National Beef Association, Farmers for Action, Country Land and Business Association, British Veterinary association,
British Cattle Veterinary Association
and industry-Government Cattle Health and Welfare Group (CHAWG), proposes:

Asking for a TB board to take responsibility for delivering and communicating the 25-year TB strategy in England.

Rolling out the South West TB advisory service nationally, backed by RDP funding and housed in AHDB, to provide a knowledge hub for farmers.

Setting out the broad principle for an Animal Health England body to deal with non-statutory endemic cattle diseases
like BVD ( bovine viral diarrhoea), based partly on what is happening in Australia and Ireland.

July 7th 2015 ~ New Zealand says that eradication rather than containment is now a feasible target.

According to
Radio.co.NZ, New Zealand's TB control policies (costing more than a billion NZ dollars since 2000) have reduced
the number of infected herds from more than 1500 to just 46. In the past three years alone
the areas harbouring TB infected possums have been reduced by more than a million hectares.
The latest review being carried out by a group representing funders, other stakeholders and the animal health agency OSPRI aims
to have all cattle and deer herds clear of TB by 2026, with full eradication of the disease from New Zealand by 2055.
Read in full

July 3rd 2015 ~ Northern Ireland's test, vaccinate or remove (TVR) wildlife intervention
research project now enters its second phase

In the first year of the Northern Ireland project badgers were cage trapped, tested for bovine TB, and then released. This year, badgers
will be re-trapped and those that test positive will be culled using a lethal injection of barbiturate. Data will then
be collected on the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic tests. This will help inform future policy.
In its press release today, the BVA says that
it supports the use of targeted, humane badger culling and "has called for it to be
part of the comprehensive strategies in Northern Ireland, England and Wales, alongside strong
cattle and biosecurity measures"

"The next phase of the TVR research project is in a focused pilot area using trained staff.
It will help us to learn more about the complex issues relating to bovine TB in both cattle and badgers
in Northern Ireland, where farming practices and badger ecology differ to Great Britain.
We recognise that there are limitations in the diagnostic tests that are currently available..."

July 1st 2015 ~ The Ulster Farmers' Union has welcomed the publication of the interim report
from the Bovine Tuberculosis Strategic Partnership Group.

See the article at farming-news in Northern Ireland.
The interim report represents the results of the
what the NI Minister described as "dedicated and thorough consideration by the TB Strategic Partnership Group" gathered over the past six months.
The chairman referred to

"...the thoughts and opinions of all
those with whom we have met, including representatives of the farming community, veterinary practices,
DARD, environmentalists and conservationists, along with recognised experts in TB, from other jurisdictions
from across the world."

The document will now go out to consultation before a final plan is drawn up.
The report itself (pdf) can be seen here

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) recently approved the registration of the BOVIGAM™ TB Kit from Thermo
Fisher Scientific in the OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals 2015.
It is the only bovine tuberculosis (bTB), Interferon-? in vitro assay that is OIE-registered.
The kit is validated for use in cattle, goat, buffalo (syncerus caffer) and sheep. Martin Guillet, global head and general manager of animal health at Thermo Fisher Scientific
is quoted in
PR Newswire today:

"The OIE registration of BOVIGAM is a major step toward a world free of bTB. It will help make bTB programs
worldwide more efficient and better accepted..."

He says that the flexible application of testing schemes will help avoid unnecessary culling,
lengthy farm closures and will help reduce the occurrence of bovine TB worldwide. More information about the BOVIGAM TB Kit
at thermofisher.com .

June 24th 2015 ~ Neil Parish will make Efra bTB inquiry an early priority.

The Western Daily Press today repeats what the new chair of the EFRA committee said last week:

"There is a need, in my view,
to extend the badger cull and to look at whether there is a genuine test coming through that
would enable us to test for infected setts. I'm hoping we will be able to take evidence on what
is happening in the areas of West Somerset and Gloucestershire, where we've had the culls.
There seems to have been quite a dramatic drop in the number of cattle with TB.
We need to look at that evidence, look at controlled shooting, look at whether we should trap more
badgers for humane dispatch. There are issues that need to be looked at, but we need to get on with it."

June 17th 2015 ~ Neil Parish, now chair of EFRA select committee is to test the evidence that culling badgers is helping
to bring down TB in cattle.

" I am hoping we will be able to take evidence
on what is happening in the areas of West Somerset and Gloucestershire where we have the culls.
There seems to have been quite a dramatic drop in the number of cattle with TB.
We need to look at that evidence, look at controlled shooting and look at whether we should cage
trap and dispatch more badgers – but we do need to get on with it."

May 30th 2015 ~"Encouraging" New TB Test

Researchers at New Zealand's Hopkirk Research Institute have
fixed M.bovis
proteins on the surface of polyester beads which are then used in an inexpensive and accurate test.
Field trials on 30,000 cattle and 3,000 deer have already taken place in New Zealand. The
Cattle Site reports that

"US and UK animal health departments have been supplied with a new bovine
tuberculosis test from New Zealand using bead technology, offering a cheaper, "more reliable" diagnosis for the costly disease......
Work is also ongoing to improve the BCG tuberculosis cattle vaccine. Professor Buddle is leading an inquiry into whether oral
delivery sidesteps the issue of diagnosis interference, without compromising protection.
more

AgResearch New Zealand, the US Department of Agriculture, and DEFRA are reported to be going to test with the new reagent.
Professor Bryce Buddle, the research leader, said there
was potential for the test to produce "fewer false positives in non-infected animals".....
The test will also work for the human skin test
for TB.
It will be interesting to see if the UK farming press covers this important story. Many of us are extremely surprised
not to have heard more in the press about Professor Wellington's ground breaking work. (see final report as a pdf file
here. Informed comment very welcome)

May 28th 2015 ~ "the assay is non-invasive and provides monitoring of disease status
in wildlife without the need for trapping, anaesthesia, or any kind of trauma"

The relentless growth of
bTB in the decade since we began reporting on it in 2005 demonstrates that present strategies are not effective .
Professor
Elizabeth Wellington and Dr Orin Courtenay at the University of Warwick have been working with quantative polymerase
chain reaction (qPCR)
techniques . As
Ref2014's "Research Excellence's Framework presentation of their work: "A Novel Way to Detect
Infection Status of Wildlife likely to have Bovine Tuberculosis ('Badger Infection Forensics')explains:

".....The most important source of infection to grazing cattle is likely to be the inhalation of aerosolised bacilli
following investigation or incidental ingestion of badger excretions and average M. bovis loads in badger faecal latrines
measured by qPCR are 104 to 106 cells per gram, which far exceeds the expected infectious dose (3, 7)The method
includes both a presence/absence score and a
quantitative assay of infectious disease load in faecal matter in the environment.
This is the first standard assay to determine environmental contamination,
the main route for disease spread to cattle, and allows evaluation of the impacts
of vaccination, culling and increased movement of badgers during disease-management strategies.
This test also enables precise monitoring of cattle herds infected with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) as it
advances from the South West to the North East of England..."
(source)

(The infective dose of m.bovis for a calf is 1 cfu (colony forming unit) or 70 cfu for a cow.
This is very small indeed when excretions from badgers, as the research makes clear, contain such heavy loads of M.bovis bacteria.)
The latest DEFRA funded research, "Optimisation of sampling strategies for improving sensitivity of M. bovis detection by PCR - SE3280" is summarised at
impact.ref.ac.uk and the final report as a pdf file is
here
Extract:

"When comparing qPCR on faeces taken from trapped badgers with culture, the qPCR assay exhibited a sensitivity
of 100% (95% CI: 30.8-100%) and a specificity of 95.7% (95% CI: 90.3-98.6).....Through sub-sampling of the overall dataset,
encompassing the cross-sectional, spring and autumn intensive sampling regimes, we can determine the number of samples
that need to be taken from a social group to have a =95% chance of detection..."
read in full

We have yet to see any official comment on the work. This seems extraordinary since the use of qPCR technology promises to allow for a
genuinely targeted approach.
Meanwhile, the ever-growing numbers of reactors slaughtered, the killing of random badgers in the culling areas,
not to mention the costly vaccination attempts that cannot affect the progress of disease once it is established,
all add to the trauma of the disease in Britain. See also today's posting on
bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk for more detail. Grateful thanks to bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk for such information.

May 28th 2015 ~ Sussex Wildlife Trust has had one positive reactor for bovine TB at Stedham Common

See
the Chichester Observer today. Another 17 reactors from a farm in the Iping area, near Midhurst, are undergoing new blood tests.

"The South East is classed as a 'very low risk' area for bTB and farmers in the Midhurst area say confirmed cases
are 'practically unheard of'."

But the Sussex hotspot for bTB, stretching from Brighton to Eastbourne, would seem to be expanding. Vaccination has been in progress
in the county and last November
Dr Tony Whitbread, Chief Executive of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, appealed for donations to help meet the cost of
badger vaccination on the Trust's nature reserves, hoping to vaccinate every badger every year for at least 5 years.
The cost of the vaccination programme is in tens of thousands of pounds.

May 27th 2015 ~
Farmers are to be permitted to employ marksmen for controlled shooting this Autumn

The new Tory government has rejected BVA advice that the shot badgers could die slowly and painfully if not killed outright.
However, because of their anatomy, particularly their very thick skull, thick skin, very thick layer of subcutaneous fat and
robust skeleton, it is, as the BVA implied, potentially much more difficult to free-shoot a badger in a quick humane way.
In April, the BVA President, John Blackwell,
said that while the BVA was convinced that badger culling had to form part of the comprehensive strategy for tackling bovine TB.
and had supported the pilots
to test the use of controlled shooting, data from the first two years of culling had "not demonstrated conclusively"
that controlled shooting could be "carried out effectively and humanely based on the criteria that were set". Badger culls will
start again this Autumn in Somerset and Gloucestershire and marksmen will be permitted to shoot badgers as they roam freely,
(in addition to the animals being trapped in cages before being shot at close range). In December 2014, DEFRA also ignored the
BVA's call
for independent monitoring of the pilot badger culls.

May 23rd 2015 ~ George Eustace: "Doing it piecemeal can just displace the problem."

At the Devon Show yesterday, George Eustace said although the Tories were committed to the 25-year eradication strategy,
which had to include a cull of badgers, they had no intention of overturning the protection for badgers under the Badger Act
and allowing farmers to manage the wildlife themselves but that the licensing of badger culls had to remain with Natural England.
He also said that he thought the BVA were mistaken to think the free shooting of badgers was more inhumane than trapping and then shooting them.
His actual words were:

"We don't agree with them. Controlled shooting is used
to control lots of wildlife, including deer and foxes, and to say it is no longer humane is simply not correct."

Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, after being challenged by Independent TD Maureen O'Sullivan in the Dáil
to acknowledge that badgers
have been "wrongfully vilified", has described the Irish badger cull as a "huge success". Mr Coveney suggests it is
the reason why Ireland is making a better job of tackling bovine TB than the UK. He says the ten year policy was set up
in response to research demonstrating
the eradication of bTB in cattle was "not a practicable proposition until the reservoir of infection in badgers was addressed."

"This has been a hugely successful programme where we have virtually halved bovine TB
in Ireland. We have less bovine TB in Ireland now than at any time since 1954 when records began. The UK has not
had success in reducing the incidence of bovine TB. I suggest this is partly because it has not been able
to take the same approach towards a targeted culling programme where it is aware of a localised bovine TB
problem and outbreak."

He said that his Department "endeavours to ensure that the badger culling programme
takes place as humanely as possible" although is not quite clear what he meant to say in the following sentence:

"It would be dishonest of me to say that I do not think that the badger targeted cull programme is being done in as humane
a way as we can do it."

However, his assertion that

"It is also inhumane
that we have to slaughter cattle because they have TB when we know that we can get the incidence of TB down. What is humane
for me is to get TB out of the herd, which is what we are trying to do, and out of the badger population too.
In that way, we will not have to target cattle and badgers"

is quite clear. He said he wanted ultimately to move to a badger vaccination programme
to address bTB spread in wildlife.
See Alistair Driver's article in
FG Insight (Reactor figures for Ireland and the UK are compared:
in Britain in the period 2002 to 2007, levels fluctuated between about
19,000 to 25,000 reactors per year. In 2014, the recorded number of cattle slaughtered as TB reactors in the UK was 31,732.)

May 14th 2015 ~ "Reducing badger-to-cattle transmission is likely to be more effective than reducing prevalence
in badgers alone."

"... we find that reducing badger-to-cattle transmission is likely to be more effective than reducing prevalence
in badgers alone. This may have particular implications for badger vaccination programmes,
depending on the local incidence of badger infection.
Using relatively limited data, we were able to draw broad conclusions about the relationship
between badger and cattle controls in Great Britain.
Increased cattle controls, such as the universal annual testing now introduced in high incidence and 'edge' areas,
are predicted to benefit all herds and result in a decrease in average breakdown size.
Increased badger controls, resulting in a reduction in badger-to-cattle transmission, are likely to be most beneficial
to low risk herds in high risk areas and we would expect to see improved clearance rates in these herds..."

(This is not a paper easily followed by
those who are not used to mathematical modelling and the language used by researchers to describe processes involved.) The work was carried out by researchers from Bristol's School of Social
and Community Medicine and Cambridge's Department of Veterinary Medicine. Professor James Wood, Head of the Department
of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge, is quoted in
Farming UK today:

"The dual host element of the disease has
been ignored for far too long in the public debate about the disease. We hope that this paper provides a dynamic
framework that can help take the debate and control of this disease to the next level."

May 11th 2015 ~"I am committed as Defra Secretary to doing whatever it takes to get rid of this disease"
Liz Truss

The Farmers Guardian quotes what Mrs Truss said
about the Conservative position on bovine TB,
pledging to roll the cull out to new areas as part of the Government's long-term TB
eradication strategy and insisting the pilots show culling to be "effective, humane and safe".

"This is a disease that threatens the long-term future
of the beef and dairy industries. We have set a long-term strategy which involves cattle movement
controls, vaccination and culling where disease is rife. I am committed as Defra Secretary
to doing whatever it takes to get rid of this disease."

The FG pointed out that
there might possibly not be sufficient time to license
and prepare new areas to start later this year. However,
"...it might also be significant that the Conservative will be governing alone, after Liberal Democrat
MPs made much of their efforts to put a brake on Conservative plans for a badger during the last Parliament."
Read in full

May 11th 2015 ~"It's particularly hard because among the animals going is probably the best cow
I've ever bred. What's really upsetting is that she was carrying a heifer calf."

The
Knutsford Guardian reports on the 13 year battle against bTB by dairy farmer, Ian McGrath, who is now
a member of DEFRA's TB eradication team. He said:

"In 2002, there were just 12 cases of bovine TB in Cheshire, which by 2014 had risen to 250 cases. I became involved
in the whole issue of the disease because I was demanding more and more answers,
and kept getting moved up the chain of command because nobody seemed to know what to do..."

May 3rd 2015 ~ Devon: How Election candidates responded to questions
about their party's views on bovine TB

The Western
Morning News reports on how election candidates representing their party's views on rural issues answered questions
about bovine TB at a hustings organised by the Country Land and Business Association:
Conservative Neil Parish said he would ask Labour not to make the disease such a political issue.

"If you say to the public; this is what we are doing – this is how we are doing it and if we are all singing from the same hymn
sheet, people might get it."

Steve Race, the Labour candidate in East Devon confirmed Labour's policy was to stop the culls immediately.
Lord Teverson, the Lib Dems spokesman in the House of Lords on energy and climate change and a former Cornish MEP and councillor,
said his party backed the continuation of the culls.Ukip's agriculture spokesman Stuart Agnew said bTB, which forces the slaughter of 33,000 cattle a year in the UK, is as devastating
to wildlife as it is to livestock.

"I really think we should publicise the agonies
that badgers go through when they get this disease. It rots the lungs; the digestive system and it takes the badger four years to die.
We should show that – speeded up – on Countryfile."

The Green Party candidate for Central Devon, Andy Williamson, said his party could not support culling badgers because it was
"inhumane and ineffective". Read
in full

April 30th 2015 ~ BVA -"the extension to the 14th May is welcome and will give veterinary practices more
time to seek further clarification and legal advice if necessary."

"...the veterinary profession has prioritised delivery
of TB testing for the public good, and will ensure that the fight against TB will continue without delay.
While issues with the draft contracts in Devon and Cornwall, coupled with a very tight deadline, have resulted in
a smaller number of sub-contractors signing up there, the extension to the 14th May is welcome
and will give veterinary practices more time to seek further clarification and legal advice if necessary.
The control of TB is most effectively delivered through nurturing strong collaboration
and working relationships within the profession."

April 27th 2015 ~ "We have consistently warned Defra that the move to tendering must not simply be a cost cutting exercise..." BVA

The BVA news release today on bTB tendering. BVA President, John Blackwell, spoke of
" a significant amount of anxiety for some of our members". At least another month is considered necessary to review the new bovine TB testing contracts. See bva.co.uk Extract:

“... they have not been given enough time to consider the impact of the new contract on their practice...
stipulated procurement timelines have given local veterinary practices just a few days to make
these significant decisions.
We have consistently warned Defra that the move to tendering must not simply be a cost cutting exercise....
We opposed the move to tendering from day one, but we are where we are and it is essential
that the government now works with
the Delivery Partners and veterinary practices to make sure the TB eradication programme can be delivered effectively."

April 24th 2015 ~ In France's Charente region, one bTB lesion means the loss of the entire herd

A farmer from Salles-Lavalette, Pascal Petit, is in despair today. His farm has been looked after by five generations of his family.
Now he is losing all his animals having been told by an intransigent Bordeaux that all 66 of his beef herd must be destroyed
even though the abattoir found lesions in only one of his animals. As he fed his young calves and bulls yesterday he was thinking,
as all farmers in similar circumstances feel, that he had wasted his time in creating such a good herd. Telling his wife and sons was very difficult.
He says

"It's a painful thing to see the animals you've raised go off to the abattoir, but what's even worse is to tell yourself that
even when one is found to be infected, it's very likely that
the rest of the herd are perfectly OK."

His is the fourth herd in the Charente to be affected this year. He told the paper www.charentelibre.fr

"The problem is the wildlife: we know that the badger or the wild boar passes on the disease.
Come and look at the bottom of my meadow, it's full of badger setts..."

Read article (in french.)
The farmer and his cousin, also a farmer, speak for many in France when they wonder if livestock farming is being quite deliberately
discouraged by the EU ban on bTB vaccination for cattle, inflexible regulations and very low rates of compensation.

The
Western Morning News today says that David Verney, Devon's NFU county chairman, and Martin Howlett,
the South West regional NFU board chairman, have said that if Labour does try to stop all badger culling, the party will face a legal challenge.
Read in full. and see also
WMN opinion piece

April 18th 2015 ~ The Labour Party says it agrees
with 95% of the coalition government's policies to combat bovine TB but "fundamentally disagrees" with badger culling.

"...“Where we fundamentally disagree is the badger cull
and the reason is that we genuinely want to go with the evidence," said Mr Irranca-Davies.
A successful vaccine against bovine TB was likely to involve an oral bait,
rather than being injectible and a Labour government would have an "open door to farmers" to make it work.
Liberal Democrats have promised to support badger culling only if it is show to be humane, effective and safe.
Defra secretary Liz Truss, who is seeking re-election as Conservative MP for south-west Norfolk, described Labour's anti-cull
stance as irresponsible..."

April 17th 2015 ~BVA calls for change to badger culling method and wider roll-out in England

In its news release
today, the British Veterinary Association says that
the results from the first two years of culling have "not demonstrated conclusively" that controlled
shooting- i.e. the shooting of free-running badgers - can be carried out effectively and humanely,
"based on the criteria that were set for the pilots".
BVA President, John Blackwell, said that the BVA is convinced that badger culling must form part
of the comprehensive strategy for tackling bovine TB.

"We are therefore calling for the culls in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire to be completed
using the tried and tested method of cage trapping and shooting, and for culling to be rolled out to other
carefully selected areas using this method."

The news release follows "a full discussion at BVA Council,
at which a wide range of views were expressed."

"There was widespread agreement
amongst Council that the disproportionate focus on badger culling in the public debate
about bovine TB fails to acknowledge that no single measure can effectively tackle the disease.
There must be a comprehensive eradication strategy using all available measures,
including surveillance and control in cattle, biosecurity, badger culling and vaccination,
surveillance and control in other non-bovines (eg camelids),
and research and development (including into improved diagnostics,
cattle vaccine, oral badger vaccine,
and alternative humane badger control methodologies)."
Read in full

John Blackwell emphasised that the "continuing spread of bovine TB within cattle and wildlife has an unacceptable impact on animal health and welfare,
and has the potential to pose a risk to public health", adding that "in the public debate on badger culling and bovine TB,
we are in danger of losing sight
of the many other important control measures being applied".

April 15th 2015 ~"the disease doesn't grow on trees but they just won't bring themselves to say what the true source is"

The WMN reports on another farmer, prize winning South Devon breeder Gordon Tully, who told his vet that he
was farming with one arm tied behind his back. Mr Tully told the paper that the vet, who had come down from Lancashire to do
a risk assessment on his farm, had replied
:

"... "yes and with a blindfold on as well".
He understood the difficulties...The most sensible thing would be to lift the protected status of the badger.
They are not in any danger but unfortunately the MPs don't seem to want to engage with the issue."

Mr Tully's herd,
until being declared bTB free last month
,
had been under restrictions for seven years. DEFRA examined his farm's cattle movement book when the herd first went down with bTB to find
out if the disease had been brought in. He says, "When it came back they said it clearly must be from another source.
Well, the disease doesn't grow on trees but they just won't bring themselves to say what the true source is."
(See WMN article) When the Lib Dem candidate for his constituency told Mr Tully that the badger cull was 'cruel', one does wonder if
he seriously feels it is somehow more cruel
to try to eliminate the ever-circulating reservoir of bTB in Devon than to shoot, for seven consecutive years,
the prized animals of a farmer such as Mr Tully. We see from
the bTB Blogspot archive that back in 2007, Mr Tully had written to his MP, Anthony Steen,
urging him to raise his plight with ministers. He had written: "I am in a state of shock and am very,
very upset and totally lost. I am unable to see what to do now.
I am having the heart ripped out of my herd and feel I am having my own heart ripped out as well."

Whichever "side" one is on, this article
in
the Ecologist seems well worth reading. Extract:

"while the design of the RBCT was exemplary, its implementation was not: to take just one example, all culling was
suspended for a year in 2001 because of the foot and mouth epidemic.
And it is also worth noting that other culls, although not conducted as controlled experiments,
have shown more dramatic impacts on the disease in cattle.
For example: Thornbury, Gloucestershire, no bTB for 10 years;
Steeple Leaze, Dorset, no bTB for seven years; Hartland Point,
Devon, 80 to 90% reduction over 10 years; East Offaly, Ireland,
88% reduction for seven years.
...
So, to say there is no scientific evidence to show that culling badgers will have a beneficial effect
on reducing bTB in cattle in endemic areas is wrong. There clearly is....No one has ever said badger culling alone will solve the problem of bTB. But the scientific evidence
shows that culling badgers in areas where the disease is endemic can help reduce bTB levels in cattle in those areas..."

April 5th 2015 ~ Plan to streamline information into one portal

At present, cattle information is stored separately across government, industry and private databases. We read at
EPD24 about a new project to streamline all cattle information so that it can be accessed via a special kind of search engine:

"...the 12-month feasibility project is being co-ordinated by the beef and dairy divisions
of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
West Norfolk farmer John Cross is chairing the steering group for the project,
which incorporates more than 20 collaborators including industry databases,
farm management software suppliers, auction market and abattoir system providers..."

The project won a £282,000 grant. It was awarded by the Agri-tech Catalyst fund, run jointly by Innovate UK and research councils.
Mr Cross is currently Chair of the government's Bovine TB Eradication Group. He says the aim is to create a prototype software system which can streamline data exchange.

March 24th 2015 ~ DEFRA "hollowed out" warns EFRA Select Committee

DEFRA's budget has inevitably faced many cuts in the present financial crisis and there will be many more in the future. Nevertheless,
the Department has a huge remit. As the EFRA Committee says, "More than 80% of its expenditure is delivered
through executive agencies and arms-length bodies, among the biggest of which are the Rural Payments Agency (RPA),
the EA, and NE." EFRA's
Work of the Committee: 2010-15 - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs talks of
"the hollowing out of Defra's core functions" which have led to a "negative impact on policy formulation and delivery". Extract:

"... arms-length distance from policy delivery and comparatively poor staff morale raises
questions about the Department's effectiveness, which are amplified by the consistent failure of the Department
to meet goals it sets itself.
Two examples of that are: the waste of around £600 million over the years in EU fines because of the RPA's failure properly
to implement the 2005 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) settlement, and repeated
'moving of goalposts' over the numbers of badgers to be culled in trials designed to reduce bovine TB..."

The Section specifically on Animal Vaccintion
against bTB is here.
Extract:

"EU rules currently prohibit cattle vaccination, but Defra applied in 2012 for in-principle marketing authorisation for a bovine TB vaccine
to protect cattle. Lengthy field trials are required before the EU will consider amending current rules to allow vaccination
to take place. We urged the Government to do all it can to condense the indicative 10-year timetable suggested by the European Commission.
We also noted that the vaccine would increase financial and administrative burdens on the industry without immediately
solving the problem since vaccination cannot guarantee cattle will not become diseased, nor can it help already-infected animals.
...An injectable vaccine for badgers has been available since March 2010, but questions remain about its efficacy, and further field research is required.
...Overall we concluded that for too long the Government's strategy for dealing with bovine TB had been reactive,
following the spread of infection. The Government needs a strategy that will jump ahead of infection..." (See
one vet's comment received today)

It is interesting
to infer from
EFRA's recommendations that up until now DEFRA has not "produced an update to the Government response to each of our reports,
one year on, in order to provide Parliament with information on the Department's progress in implementing our report
recommendations."

March 18th 2015 ~ farmers are being asked to report badgers killed by vehicles to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
so that they can be tested for bovine TB.

See today's Farming UK
- although it is acknowledged that farmers
are working around the clock at the moment, particularly those who are lambing, and finding the time to report dead badgers may be difficult.
Presumably, members of the public could report badgers dead on the road too. APHA was formerly known as the Animal Health
and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA). The name changed in October 2014 following a re-organisation. Their home page is
here with phone numbers and regional contacts.

March 3rd 2015 ~ Should one welcome the news that GM modified cows in China are more "resistant to bTB"?

While news reports such as that on the
Farming UK website
and Guardian
are apparently welcoming the news that Chinese scientists have inserted a mouse gene known as SP110 into the genome
of Holstein-Freisian cattle to create TB-resistant animals "thereby reducing the need to cull infected herds", and the Cattle
Health Certification Standards (CHeCS)executive director
Tim Brigstocke calls it a
"highly promising technique",
many may not be quite so sanguine about the discovery. The repulsion in many people towards the insertion of genes from one species into the genome of another
is not that they are Luddites but rather
that the long term consequences
of GM manipulation have not yet been seen nor researched.
Meanwhile, the selection of bTB resistant cattle by traditional selective breeding has been compromised.
Cattle in the UK whose immune systems are able effectively to fight and seal off infection are killed because the bTB skin test
shows them to
be "reactors" even though they are neither ill nor infectious.
They are unable to breed
since they, and their unborn calves, if present, are immediately killed.
Moreover, before the "mouse gene" news raises too much optimism, it should be remembered
that a fair proportion of the Chinese GM animals still succumbed to the disease. They may have shown, when dissected,
"far fewer lesions than the control cattle"
but this is not yet a technique to produce completely TB-resistant cows. (Informed comment welcome.)

March 2nd 2015 ~ New Zealand, United States and United Kingdom Team to Evaluate PolyBatics Assign-bTB DIVA Tuberculosis Skin Test
Reagent

As we report below (Feb 18th), PolyBatics' Assign-bTB tuberculosis skin test reagent might soon become a very useful tool in the
fight against bovine TB.
(The reagent can also be used for human blood tests and for human skin testing for TB.)
Although we read that trials of the new reagent are currently
being held in the UK, we have not yet found any mention of this on the DEFRA website. Any information would be gratefully received.

"...PolyBatics
is developing Assign-bTB as a DIVA (Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals) skin test reagent designed
to distinguish animals infected with TB from those vaccinated with the BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) vaccine.
Testing with Assign-bTB is intended to eliminate false positives,
allowing for the vaccination of herds to reduce the incidence of TB in cattle and deer,
while maintaining the sensitivity to detect truly infected animals..."
See more at www.polybatics.com

Field trials are vital since its success and validation could, it is to be hoped, finally lead to officially recognised cattle vaccination
and effective herd immunity. Experimental evidence shows that the BCG vaccine is most effective
in animals under six weeks therefore any DIVA test would ideally need to be effective at this age too. Trade is, as so often, a major stumbling block.
DEFRA's
Options for vaccinating cattle against bovine tuberculosis (pdf) from as long ago as 2007 - and in which an optimistic chart suggests
that in its "best case" timeline, effective cattle vaccination could have been in "widespread use" by the middle of 2015-
show that
for the EU,

"259. A DIVA test would need to be recognised
by the Commission and a negative DIVA test alongside the negative skin test would need to
define OTF (officially tuberculosis free) status in the trade Directive 64/432 as outline above."

February 28th 2015 ~Gloucestershire vet: " A measure of success isn't the number of badgers culled,
it's about the decrease of the disease within the population."

A Gloucestershire-based vet, Roger Blowey, who has been testing cattle for bTB for decades, is quoted today in the Western Daily Press

"For the first time in over a decade farms in the area are finally testing negative for the disease. I can think of no other
reason other than the culling of infected badgers as to why there should be such a decrease in the level of bovine TB in the county.
The difficulty is fixing what should have been the target numbers. My opinion is that a
reasonable target has been met and the number of badgers being culled in the first two years of the cull has
clearly had a positive impact on bTB in cattle. A measure of success isn't the number of badgers culled,
it's about the decrease of the disease within the population."

The paper also quotes a farmer in the hotspot on the border of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire who has just had his first negative result in 11 years
See also the report in the Gloucestershire Citizen

February 28th 2015 ~ TB confirmed in N Yorks deer herd "We are conscious of the importance of not letting it spread into local wildlife"

The owners of a managed deer herd on a farm in North Yorkshire are quoted in the
Northern Echo

".. Despite the very complex nature of the disease and the long haul,
we believe we will over time get on top of it. We are conscious of the importance of not letting it spread into local wildlife,
and at this point there is no TB in our suckler herd of cattle."

Wild deer are still regarded as an "overspill" victim of bTB
but it is unclear how the deer contracted the disease; not from the suckler herd apparently.
Deer are not considered to be as infectious as badgers or alpacas, but as a result of the reported outbreak,
cattle herds within a three kilometre radius will now be
subject to more regular testing.

February 23rd 2015 ~ A survey of badgers that have been found dead on Welsh roads will
continue throughout 2015

A previous survey of all badgers reported dead between October 26, 2005, and May 31, 2006 produced a
total of 727 badgers of which 459 were examined. Across Wales, 13% were found to have bovine TB,
while in the hotspots: Gwent (26%) and southern Powys (25%).Rates in North Wales were lower, at 3%-5%..

"..but exceeded the proportion of Welsh cattle which tested positive for bTB – in 2007
the figure was 0.6%."

Members of the public who find a dead badger are reminded for their own health not to handle or move the carcass.

"To report sightings, contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on 0300 3038268.
The line is open from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. "

February 23rd 2015 ~ Labour's pledge to protect animals should include all animals, including the tens of thousands
of cows that are compulsorily slaughtered every year in England because of TB, says Meurig Raymond

Responding to comments made by the Shadow DEFRA Secretary, Maria Eagle, the NFU president says Labour is using the badger cull
as a "political football" and that attempts to eradicate the disease must be put beyond political point scoring.
See
Farmers Weekly

February 18th 2015 ~ "use of Assign-bTB has the potential to significantly reduce the number of non-tuberculous cattle
or deer that falsely react to the skin test"

Extract from News Release
from Polybatics Ltd, who have developed a new reagent, Assign-bTB,for the bTB skin test. The New Zealand company is developing Assign-bTB as a DIVA
(Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals) skin test reagent. Its purpose is to distinguish animals infected with
TB from those vaccinated with the BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) vaccine and is intended to eliminate false positives.

"...
"We have already tested the Assign-bTB reagent in more than 30,000 cattle and 3,000 deer, where it has shown
5 times better specificity than the standard TB skin test used today and is on track to deliver equivalent
or better sensitivity," said Tracy Thompson, PolyBatics chief executive officer. "These initial results
have been very encouraging and now we are joining in this international effort to better evaluate
the larger potential of this new diagnostic reagent." ( More)

Field trials should by now have begun in other partner countries, including Britain. Any information about the DEFRA trials
would be gratefully received. The News release continues: " While the incidence of bovine TB
has been greatly reduced within the developed world, significant pockets of infection
remain within wildlife in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and to a lesser extent the United States and Canada,
thus putting livestock within those countries at risk. Bovine TB remains a serious health risk for animals and humans alike
.."

February 17th 2015 ~ Concern that vets must continue to be recognised as vital to both individual farms and
to national disease control programmes.

The NFU are warning today that the new regime may not be viable for smaller farms. (See more at
Farming UK) Meanwhile, the British Veterinary Association, who opposed the original decision to move to a system of
tendering for OV services (i.e. bovine TB testing and other Official Veterinarian services) because of the
"potential unintended consequence of undermining the sustainability of the network of veterinary practices in rural areas"
say in
a statement today (extract)

"... We will monitor how the service is being delivered at a local level
and feed in any concerns raised by our members to Defra and APHA, particularly in terms
of any erosion of the link between vets and farmers and the potential impact of a loss of veterinary services in rural areas."

February 14th 2015 ~ "Domestic stock are animals too. Labour's pledges next Wednesday, must show the party understands
that point."

The
Western Morning News article here suggests that the Labour Party's "playing politics with issues like the battle
to eradicate bovine TB from the UK could prove to be a very dangerous game."

February 10th 2015 ~ EFRA Committee asked Defra to explain why 2nd year of the culling
in Gloucestershire failed to meet the licence conditions for the minimum number of badgers removed.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee:

"We recommend that Defra clarifies whether
it intends to continue the culling in Gloucestershire from 2015 onwards and, if so,
what changes will be made to ensure its effectiveness in line with the recommendations of the Chief Veterinary Officer."

Last year's report showed that 274 badgers were killed in Gloucestershire over six weeks against a target of between 615 and 1091. In Somerset
the figure was 341 against a target of between 316 and 785. See article in the Farmers Guardian On the subject of anti bTB vaccine for cattle, the EFRA Committee said, "
We urge Defra to publish its own timetable for the development and use of a cattle vaccine to reassure the public
that action is being taken to combat bovine TB in this way." This might indeed go someway to "reassure the public" - problems
continue to plague the
development of cattle vaccines against bTB. Quite apart from the efficacy of any future vaccine, it is currently illegal
under EU law to vaccinate cattle with the existing BCG jab. A DIVA test still needs to be developed and meet both
EU and international approval. As we have seen for many years, there seems little sense of urgency in DEFRA or the EU for any of this to
happen.

February 2015 ~ "The loss of TB testing income would also challenge the viability of some rural veterinary businesses"

Xperior Farm Health is dropping its legal action challenging
the controversial TB tender provisional award; it claims that to award the contract for testing to one overarching veterinary business, XL Vets,
would be a "clear lack of competition between Delivery Partners covering England, and acceptance of what are believed
to be unfeasibly low bids". See
Farmers Guardian Even so, Experior's veterinary director, Phil Elkins, said the company
retained the option of mounting, with other veterinary companies, a legal challenge possibly in the form of judicial review
after the announcement has been officially made.

January 27th 2015 ~ Farmers' Union of Wales says, "private vets will remain at the heart of bTB testing procedures in Wales"

Extract from FUW press release:

"....When making arrangements for tests, farmers and livestock keepers can express
a preference to use a specific veterinary practice from within the Delivery Partners
network to undertake their testing, and this preference will be honoured where possible.
Farmers and livestock keepers who would prefer to use a practice that is not part of the
Delivery Partners network retain an option to pay for the testing privately."

Farmers themselves will continue to be responsible for ensuring that bTB testing is completed
on time but in future they will need to contact their regional Delivery Partner to make the arrangements.
Two "delivery partners" have successfully tendered for TB testing in Wales - Menter a Busnes
in North Wales and Iechyd Da (Gwledig) Ltd in South Wales.

January 22nd 2015 ~ "we will follow the outcomes of the tender very closely, continuing to argue for local veterinary expertise," says a worried BVA

See the news release
from the British Veterinary Association, which has always been against bovine TB
testing being tendered away from farmers' local vets. They now ask the "Animal and Plant Health Agency" (APHA) for urgent clarification on the government's timetable
for announcing the results of the tendering process. Extract:

"...We were expecting the announcement of the tender results earlier this month so
it is critical that APHA now sets out a clear timetable for the announcement and next steps.
Vets who will be affected by the outcome need this information to be able to plan and work
with their farmer clients and delivery partners to ensure herds across the UK have the best disease detection
and prevention plans in place."

None of this is likely to be reassuring for those who care deeply about disease prevention
in the UK. It was only 15 days ago at the Oxford Farming Conference, that Secretary of State Liz Truss affirmed that
"the number of frontline vets must be protected".

January 21st 2015 ~ "Tiny hope for softening of divisions over bovine TB"

"interview with Badger Trust chairman Dominic Dyer
there is, maybe, the first chink of an opening which could bring forward opportunities
for both sides in this highly divisive debate to see ways to work together.
It comes, we believe, in Mr Dyer's acceptance that badgers which test positive for the disease
need to be humanely culled. It is hardly a sensational revelation. Who, in all conscience, could
condone any other course of action? But it gives the lie to the allegation that those opposed to the cull
cannot accept that badgers have anything whatsoever to do with bovine TB.
And it opens the way for more work to develop a fast, accurate and field-useable test for the disease
that could quickly identify TB-affected setts where culling the occupants would be the best way to reduce disease
– and the kindest course to take..." Read in full

As this website has maintained for some time now, identifying which badger setts are healthy and which have infection
is vital and needs to be given generous incentives for work in the field rather than for mere computer modelling.
One idea of which we heard last year, put into practice, was to test a nearby sett for infection by getting

"the wildlife surveillance camera out, drench some cotton ropes in peanut butter
and attach them at convenient height and distance to the trees.
Then let's wait and see whether there will be enough rope left to retrieve sputum/saliva. The use of "artificial" product
will minimize the risk of environmental mycobacteria which would be present in honey or molasses.
So far we don't have TB in badgers so it is merely a trial to establish an approach to the problem...."

Not exactly hi-tech, but effective - and
surely better than
indiscriminate trapping and shooting. As we wrote below:

"Healthy badgers are territorial
and have no scruples at all about keeping away sick intruders - so mass culling can actually be counter-productive."

While the killing of badgers is seen by the public to be inhumane and unnecessary but while too the problem of bTB is not going to
solved while there is uncontrolled infection in wildlife, it is surely essential that "a fast, accurate and field-useable test
where culling the occupants would be the
best way to reduce disease
– and the kindest course to take" be considered a top priority and properly funded. As it is, millions of pounds have been used to very little effect and a great deal of anguish.

January 16th 2015 ~ Does suggesting that testing cattle is more "effective" than culling badgers overlook
the risks of stress caused by the skin test?

Absent from articles about the study carried out by Professor Matthew Evans' team at Queen Mary College(University of London),
is any mention of concern about the risks associated with herding
cattle for testing. The leader of the new computer-modelling study, Professor Matthews Evans,
was quoted as saying
that "investment in increasing the frequency of cattle testing is a far more effective strategy than badger culling."
However, bTB testing is one of the most hazardous tasks undertaken by vets and farmers.
Stress weakens immune systems and the process of herding the animals together for skin testing is stressful and
dangerous.
Farmer David Barton wrote
in his blog in July:

".. The test was the first one we'd had since our six-month check test where we lost
three cows and our dear old bull Ernie. Every TB test is hard work and is incredibly stressful.
Getting the cattle in and making sure they all safely go through the crush is very physically demanding work..." (One cow tested
positive which meant death for the cow and a minimum of two further 60-day TB tests for the farm.)

The NFU (see Alistair Driver's article in the
Farmers Guardian)
is far from impressed with the modellers' conclusions: "...An NFU spokesman said the computer generated
model was 'entirely dependent on the data that is used and any assumptions made'. Its conclusions fly in the face
of the experiences of most farmers..." (
Read in full) (See also the Bovine TB Blogspot on
"the crass futility of nailing the cattle to the floor, while allowing a wildlife reservoir to flourish".)

In her guardedly-worded speech at the Oxford Farming Conference
(www.gov.uk/ website)
Liz Truss was careful to distance the Coalition from "the
terrible financial situation we have found the country in". Although she claimed that "I have been very clear that the
number of frontline vets must be protected" the British Veterinary Association is very concerned that vets' "critical work in
animal disease prevention, detection and monitoring" should not be undermined. Cost-cutting contracts awarded to so-called
"Delivery Partners" could get in the way of what the BVA calls the "comprehensive approach to farmers and their herds" by vets
in favour of "perfunctory testing". This must surely be a worry for livestock farmers who have confidence in their local vets.
See full BVA statement

January 5th 2015 ~ "we see nothing at all happening in 2015 which gives us any cause for cheer.
Politics will get in the way."

The author of the
Bovine TB Blogspot writes
from the point of view of a highly informed, heart-sickened cattle farmer. Much of the New Year Post is quietly incensed with rage. An extract:

"..even if Defra - if such an organisation exists any more - are successful in defending
the right to control infected badgers, the opportunity for doing so in 2015 is likely to have been lost
along with participating farmers' up-front cash ..."

Certainly, the dismal record of the UK government for disease
control in Britain over the past two decades
has left many wishing that politics would simply get out of the way. Present vaccines cannot
eliminate TB however much we wish they could. It is essential
that humane methods
of euthanising badgers below ground are developed - but only where there is infection.
Healthy badgers are territorial and have no scruples at all about keeping away sick intruders,
so mass culling can actually be counter-productive. Identifying which setts are healthy is vital and needs resources.
It is important to understand that bTB pathology in badgers
is very different from that in cattle. When a badger infected with bTB urinates it may be shedding
a huge number of bacteria onto pasture, whereas the immune system
in cattle will isolate bacteria into thick-walled abscesses. bTB bacteria will only be shed by cows
if full-blown disease develops -
and with constant regimes of testing for antibodies and removing reactors
this is highly unlikely. Cattle to cattle transmission in the real world is not likely and yet
the cattle who have successfully walled off disease are "reactors" and are slaughtered in
their thousands, while the disease load in wildlife continues to grow at an alarming rate.
The
urgent need to develop adequate ways to stop this spread has been hampered by interference, ignorance and muddle.
Another blogger
Gloucestershire farmer
David Barton
in his farewell to 2014:

"If there was ever a case to completely de-politicise the policy for disease control of bTB in the UK this has
to be it."

December 28th 2014 ~ Telegraph article aims for balance on culling- but makes clear both that badgers are prodigious carriers of TB and that farmers have to live with a constant sense of dread.

William Langley in
the Telegraph today quotes a Gloucestershire farmer

"I know farmers who've lost dozens of cattle to this disease.
Having to load cattle you've reared from birth on to a lorry to be taken away
for slaughter after they've tested positive, despite taking all the precautions you can,
is soul destroying. I know one farmer who lost 126 cows after a single TB test.
Having to cope with the emotional impact of that, never mind the impact on your farm business,
is almost indescribable. I've seen farmers reduced to tears because of bovine TB..."

There are now unconfirmed reports
that a planned extension of the cull could be postponed until after the general election.

"The Government is fearful of the political sensitivities, with polls showing a majority of the public opposed to culling,
and Labour pledging to end the policy if it is returned to power. Scientific opinion is fiercely divided.."

December 20th 2014 ~ BVA President John Blackwell on DEFRA's publication of the results
of the monitoring of the second year of the pilot badger culls.

The position of the British Veterinary Association
on bovine TB is to support the use of "targeted, humane badger culling in areas where
there is a significant wildlife reservoir as part of the comprehensive approach to tackling the disease". He said,

"The headline data continues to raise some concerns on humaneness and reveals a mixed
a picture in terms of effectiveness, but we are unable to comment further on the results until we have had time to
fully consider the data in consultation with our members.
We appreciate the fact that Defra has not released this data alongside a decision on the continued delivery of
culling in the pilot areas using controlled shooting or the further roll-out of the policy and we look forward to further
consultation on this before Defra decides future policy.
But we have consistently made it clear that we can only support badger culling if the
method used is humane, safe and effective and that is why we called for controlled shooting to be tested and
critically evaluated against these criteria."

December 16th 2014 ~ The
European Commission again approves DEFRA plans to combat bovine TB

DEFRA's plans for 2015 include the new "zero-tolerance" approach to late TB tests,
badger vaccination scheme in so-called "edge" counties and badger culling in the worst affected areas. The European Commission
has approved the plans following an audit in September by its Food and Veterinary Office.
This means England will get up to £12 million towards its TB eradication strategy. See
FWi

December 11th 2014 ~
"Sadly we have seen no benefits to date from vaccination alone."

Well worth reading in full is this
FWI article about the thoughts of a vet, George Dart, who works with the Killerton Estate
farmers. Killerton, the West Country National Trust estate near Exeter, pioneered badger vaccination without culling from 2011 in order to see if it could be done practically and cost-effectively.
The programme cost £80,000 in the first year but costs have decreased somewhat since then, and well over 500 badgers have been vaccinated on the estate.
It will be remembered, however, that at Killerton there have been up to six cattle farms that have gone down
with the disease during this programme of vaccination. The leader of the four year vaccination trial, Alex Raeder, was quoted in the
Western Daily Press in October this year in an article which describes the trial in detail. Mr Raeder said,

"We really understand the personal impact, emotionally and commercially, in relation to TB breakdowns in the herd. What
the trust has been trying to do is something practical about the problem.
It would be most unfortunate if the conclusion was that it doesn't work and culling is better."

Today, Mr Dart, the vet, is quoted by the FWI:

"I have deep concerns about the severity of new and recurrent breakdowns
both within and especially on the fringe of the estate. Could the fringe effect be due to disturbance [perturbation]
caused by the vaccination programme? Sadly we have seen no benefits to date from vaccination alone."

December 9th 2014 ~ DEFRA has ignored the BVA's call for independent monitoring of the pilot badger culls

John Blackwell, the BVA president, said at a recent BVA meeting:

"It is no secret that some of our members are frustrated
by the lack of independent analysis this year and we are disappointed that it has not been put in place
to give confidence to our members and the wider public.
We have made it very clear to Defra that our ongoing support should not be taken for granted
and that we will make our own assessment of the data when it is published."

December 6th 2014 ~ Cheshire. The disease spreads.

Even though
Cheshire is still technically thought of as an 'edge area', the rapid spread of bovine TB in the county means that DEFRA has introduced
six-monthly cattle testing. This equates to twice as many tests as those in the West Country.
See
See Western Daily Press

December 3rd 2014 ~ Liz Truss talks to Devon NFU "We have proceeded with the cull despite the loud
protests and objections because we know it is the right thing to do."

She said,

"The reality is we have a very serious problem with this disease. Between the years of
1997 and 2010 under the previous government, the disease increased nine-fold and I am afraid not enough action was taken then.
I am absolutely clear that this is a comprehensive strategy.
It does have to include cattle movement control and it also includes vaccination in the edge areas of badgers,
the areas where the disease has not yet spread to.
But it must include culling in the areas where the disease is rife.
International advice shows that is the only way to deal with this scourge as part of a comprehensive programme.
We have proceeded with the cull despite the loud protests and objections because we know it is the right thing to do.
We are prepared to take the tough decisions that need to be taken in order to protect
the future of our beef and dairy industry and to eradicate this terrible disease."

November 26th 2014 ~ BVA is concerned at the suggestion that "non-vets" be used to carry out bovine TB testing.

"Cuts cannot come at the expense of animal welfare and health, which if compromised
can have serious consequences for human health and food production." This
news release today
from the British Veterinary Association urges DEFRA not to downgrade the role of vets in food safety
and animal health and welfare following -ecommendations made to the Cabinet-Office-led Red Tape Challenge
by external consultants that included cuts to health inspections on farms and the use of
"non-vets" to carry out bovine TB testing.. Read in full

"...The NFU today brought together many leading experts from across the country to discuss the scientific basis for eradicating bovine TB with farmers battling against the disease.
Speakers at the event, held at the NFU's headquarters at Stoneleigh, included Defra's Chief
Scientific Adviser Professor Ian Boyd; Professor Glyn Hewinson, lead scientist for TB at the Animal and Plant Health
Agency; Professor Christianne Glossop, Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales; and Gareth Enticott,
senior lecturer in the School of Planning and Geography at Cardiff University."

The
Farmers Guardian also covers the event. "... Prof Boyd outlined the range of measures required to control bTB,
including new cattle controls, cattle genetics, improved TB tests, farm biosecurity, badger
population control and vaccination.
But he said it was probably unrealistic
to consider eradicating the disease in England, although it should possible to
reduce incidence to more acceptable levels."
The Farmers Weekly reports
that the NFU is lobbying the government for the creation of a new independent body to replace the TB Eradication Advisory Group (TBEAG)
It wants to "depoliticise the debate over the disease".

November 12th 2014 ~ DEFRA warns that apparent fall in cases does not mean we're winning

"..There has been a small fall each month since January this year
in the South West, the figures show. Across Britain the number of new herd incidents during
the period January to August 2014 was 3,017 compared to 3,137 for January to August 2013.
In the South West 1,593 new herd incidents were recorded between the same period, compared
to 1,681 between January and August last year."

The official advice from DEFRA and from the NFU
is that it is too soon to make a correlation between either culling or vaccination with the present figures.
At the same time in Ireland, figures for 2013 showing a slight fall
were met by a similar warning from Minister O'Neill that no one should allow themselves to be at all complacent. See Farming Life

November 5th 2014 ~ "We have again found ourselves having a debate about an incredibly important scientific issue
before the scientific evidence has been fully analysed and published... " Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative MP for the Cotswolds

He took a major part in yesterday's
Commons debate
on "Badger Culls (Assessment)" saying that in his Cotswolds constituency, farms

"that have had TB reactors for six or eight years have, this year,
for the first year in those six or eight years, had no reactors.
That may be anecdotal evidence, but it begins to point to the fact that the culls are having a beneficial effect."

He said that
culling badgers in the hotspots was only a part of an overall policy to eradicate TB in this country in 25 years,
and that while significant attention has been given to the "relatively small
number of badgers being culled in these trials", less attention is given to the 314,000 cattle that have been slaughtered
in the last 10 years. As for the vexed question of vaccination, he pointed out that on the Killerton estate in North Devon, for example,
where TB is a huge problem, the National Trust has been vaccinating badgers at an annual cost of £45,000 for the past four years.
There have recently been as many as six additional herd breakdowns due to TB.
As expected, several MPs had much to say in opposition to badger culling being included in any eradication policy at all.

November 4th 2014 ~ Welsh study to identify the prevalence of TB in badgers through post-mortem examinations.

(Dead badgers
can be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 03003 038 268.)
Across Wales,
the prevalence of bovine TB in badgers in Wales, based on a study by the VLA of 727 badgers found dead between October 2005 and May 2006,
was estimated to be 13%. In comparison, 0.6% of Welsh cattle tested positive for TB in 2007.FWI reports on the latest study just launched in Wales.

November 4th 2014 ~ Journal of Animal Ecology to "critically appraise the methods used and their power to determine
the success of this year's cull".

"...The journal said it would provide a 'transparent and independent review of the available evidence'
using it extensive international network of reviewers.
To ensure 'complete independence and transparency' it said it would avoid calling on scientists that
have previously played a part in the badger culling debate..."

On October 29th, the
Badger Trust posted that it was "disappointed by the Court of Appeal
decision against ensuring an independent referee". MPs are due to debate the second year
of the badger cull pilots in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.

September 17th 2014 ~ A farmer's view of the present badger vaccines "A little bit of m bovis is too much for me."

In response to yesterday's posting on the 2011 research by S Lesellier et al, one farmer
writes:

" As a cattle owner, I think the crucial bit is:
"M.bovis challenge strain was recovered from all badgers." and "One high dose badger [ D313] exhibited the most extensive pathology of all animals in the study" and "Lesions in the lung lobes were observed in 22 of the 23 badgers. In 18 animals the right middle lobe contained visible lesions."In many later conclusions, it was noted "no statistical difference between groups" and
"the experimental infection resulted in many infected tissues that were without visible lesions." [ at the time of post mortem}
Intra Muscular (IM) vaccination did not prevent infection (they suppose because of the single overwhelming challenge. They could be right
- or wrong. Tuberculosis is a slow burn progressive disease, so all these spots of infection may in time,
have morphed into visible lesions..
All the test badgers were found to have bacterial excretions, and as a dose of just 1 cfu can infect a calf,
then regardless of the authors' hopeful expectations, a 'little bit of m.bovis' is too much for me - or my cattle."

September 16th 2014 ~ Another paper: "Protection of Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) from tuberculosis after intra-muscular vaccination
with different doses of BCG."

"...We report the evaluation of the efficacy of IM administration of BCG Danish strain 1331 at two different doses:
the dose prescribed for adult humans (2–8 × 105 colony forming units) and a 10-fold higher dose.
Vaccination generated a dose-dependent cell-mediated immune response characterised
by the production of interferon-? (IFN?) and protection against endobronchial challenge
with virulent M. bovis. Protection, expressed in terms of a significant reduction in the
severity of disease, the number of tissues containing acid-fast bacilli, and reduced bacterial
excretion was statistically significant with the higher dose only."

The challenge strain was recovered from all the badgers
in the experiment.
It was, however, noted that:"...We consider the number of viable M.bovis organisms used in the challenge inoculum to be substantially higher than encountered
in natural aerosol exposure. This makes the challenge system used a stringent test of vaccine induced protection,in terms
of protection against a single large dose exposure."As usual, comment would be gratefully received. This debate is a
contentious one and all informed points of view will be respected.

The completed research project report for CB0116 (OM0122) contracted to the VLA between 2006 and 2010 is in the public domain. See pdf file While no experiment will be entirely successful in reproducing conditions found in the wild, and while it is very difficult
for anyone not trained in veterinary science and microbiology to
comment, it may be worth recording the Conclusion here

"
IM administration of BCG was shown to confer protection to badgers against experimental inoculation with M. bovis. As IM BCG is both protective and safe for badgers [7] and feasible to administer to restrained conscious animals, it makes field vaccination of badgers feasible for the first time; representing a new intervention tool for the control of bovine TB in badgers. On the basis of these efficacy data, together with data on the safety and quality
of the vaccine, the VMD granted a Marketing Authorisation to the VLA for the HD IM BCG vaccine
(called BadgerBCG) on 24th March 2010."

See full report (pdf file) Trapping and inoculating badgers in the wild is obviously stressful for them - and it is worth remembering that
mammals whose immune system has successfully counteracted pathogens - as when an invasion by tuberculosis bacteria is safely walled up -
may nevertheless succumb to disease under stress. The success or otherwise of both badger vaccination and culling is still unknown and proper scientific
knowledge is hard to come by and very expensive. This means that relying on just one possible means of reducing the disease can
hardly be thought helpful. While cattle, wildlife, farmers and indeed all susceptible mammals, including ourselves, continue to be at risk and
suffer, we need the best minds and best resources to work unhindered by ignorance.

September 13th 2014 ~ "...worthy of much wider publicity, since the general
public seem to think that one dose of vaccine gives immediate,
100% effective, lifelong protection"

On page9 of the Farmers Guardian there is an excellent letter from David Denny,
debunking the use of BCG vaccine for badgers and including some fascinating figures of some trials on 23 Suffolk badgers
of which 18 were vaccinated and five left unvaccinated as controls.
After 12 weeks all had bTB introduced to their lungs. Later on,
all were excreting bTB, some with visible multiple lesions. Others, which had no apparent lesions, had bTB cultured from other organs.
The letter will appear here as soon as possible (see letter)
- but the relevant paper (see posting above) is quoted from
here, together with informed comment from
http://bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/bcg-efficacy-does-it-work.htmlOne comment from Dr Dan Holdsworth under the linked page, which dates back to 2010, shows his concern that the public
perception is that badger
vaccine must be the obvious and simple answer to this urgent
UK crisis. Such belief seems never to be allowed to waver in the public mind and yet the situation is unfortunately very much more
complicated and problematic than this.

" As a biologist, I find these results rather perturbing. I know that BCG isn't all that effective,
but results such as this demonstrate that it is so ineffective as to be near-useless,
especially given the stress and disruption of vaccinating wild badgers.
This is worthy of much wider publicity, since the general
public seem to think that one dose of vaccine gives immediate,
100% effective, lifelong protection from a disease. This simplistic notion needs
to be corrected; people need telling that BGC isn't all that effective,
and that M bovis is definitely not a disease only of cows and badgers,
but one which can readily spread to people..."

September 9th 2014 ~ Second year of badger culling in the pilot areas begins

Alastair Driver writes:

"...there is a belief among the farmers on the ground and Defra that lessons have been learned from the difficult first year of culling – and this year will prove more successful.
Farmers up and down the country will be observing events in Somerset and Gloucestershire with interest.
...."

The Farmers Guardian
"....The target numbers will be much lower in both pilot areas. In Gloucestershire the contractors will be required
to remove between 615 and 1,091 badgers over the six-week period,
while in Somerset the target is between 316 and 785 badgers." Read
Farmers Guardian article. See also
Parliamentary Statement by Secretary of State Elizabeth Truss.

September 2nd 2014 ~ BVA: "it is therefore important that a vaccination strategy is not deployed in isolation
but delivered in conjunction with other key elements of the strategy."

The BVA has announced that its members

"... fully support the comprehensive eradication strategy for England
that utilises all of the available measures, including targeted badger vaccination in the edge area,
targeted and humane culling in the high risk area, strict cattle controls, and improved biosecurity..."

Read
BVA statement about its support for badger vaccination in the edge areas. The BVA expressed its concern that "the edge" is advancing, thus illustrating
the urgency of dealing with bovine TB in both high risk and edge areas.

August 26th 2014 ~ 24% of badgers killed on the road in Cheshire had bTB according to University of Liverpool project

What seems particularly worrying in this Farmers Weekly article is that the biggest number of positive cases were found in the northern part of the county rather than
southern or eastern areas bordering Shropshire or Derbyshire, where the disease is considered to be more prevalent. The study began in March. Derbyshire is considered to be an "edge" area
for the disease. The results are still interim in nature but already suggest that bTB may be much more widespread
in Cheshire than previously thought.
See
Farmers Weekly article

August 23rd 2014 ~
Vaccine trials delayed

The reason is cost. The trials were supposed to start this year but have now been delayed.
Triveritas, the company which specialises in clinical trials in livestock, is going to
design the field trials as well as a DIVA test and design work is expected to be completed this autumn. The vaccine trial
needs an Animal Test Certificate (ATC) to be granted by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) since otherwise
vaccine is considered illegal in the UK. An AHVLA spokesman says trials depend upon "a positive cost analysis of the use of a cattle vaccine and DIVA test "
Farmers Weekly reports in full

"....Small-scale field trials in Ethiopia and Mexico
have suggested that the protective effect of vaccination was between 58% and 68%.
But confirmation of effectiveness in UK conditions will need to be confirmed by large-scale field trials in England and Wales.
Vaccination of cattle against TB is currently prohibited by EU legislation, principally because BCG (Bacille Calmette Guerin) vaccination
can interfere with the tuberculin skin test, the most commonly used diagnostic test for TB in cattle.
Last year, the European Commission announced that the provisional timetable for changing legislation and
approving a cattle vaccine was the year 2023.
Meanwhile, a recent review of research into TB vaccination in cattle and badgers
warned that developing vaccines for tackling the problem was "challenging, time-consuming and resource-intensive".

Read in full One wonders how it is that the EU considers nine years (i.e. 2023) a suitable timescale for approving
a vaccine and changing the EU-wide law.
Informed comment welcome

Comments:

Joyce R : "Re: One wonders how it is that the EU considers nine years (i.e. 2023) a suitable timescale
for approving a vaccine and changing the EU-wide law.
One also wonders what plans there are for all the other mammals now being diagnosed with zoonotic Tuberculosis - farmed and pets
especially as they are in direct and close up contact with humans. BCG only has some effect when given to very young babies,
when we were tested and vaccinated in the 60's? It was either an experiment or a means to see how many
of us had been previously infected."

John T farmer "Re: vaccine trials delayed.
As an interested observer rather than a scientist, it seems to me that developing
vaccines to address the problem of bTB must indeed be "challenging, time-consuming and resource-intensive" otherwise
it would have been done long ago. The BCG vaccine introduced nearly 100 years ago has still not been superseded.
Britain in the 1970's and 80's came close to eliminating bTB in cattle without recourse
to vaccines and there is no reason why it cannot be achieved now, other than the intransigence of a certain
section of the population and the spineless politicians who will not stand up to them."

August 22nd 2014 ~
High Court hearing will give its judgement "at a later date".

August 21st 2014 ~ The High Court decides today whether Defra should have appointed a scrutiny panel to assess the effectiveness
and humaneness of the cull.

As the
Farmers Guardian says today: "The basis for the Judicial Review
against former Defra Secretary Owen Paterson and Natural England was the lack of independent monitoring in place
for the second year of the badger cull pilots in Somerset and Gloucestershire."

"... It cannot be anything to do with the official badger cull,
as that was too recent to have had any impact yet on disease in cattle. It may just be cyclical.
Nigel Gibbens suggested that it was down to a tougher cattle testing regime.
Or it could be an indication that some of the more scientifically conducted badger welfare-related activity
is having an impact.For the rest, the news remains pretty bleak. A cattle vaccine seems as far off as ever.
The test that was supposed to be "97 per cent accurate" in detecting bTB in llamas and alpacas turns out
to be much less reliable. A team of computerised-carnage specialists at Warwick University has suggested killing
250,000 cattle
in a one-off, FMD-style, clear-out of high risk herds, God help us...."

Mr Gibson goes on to record his alarm when he heard Nigel Gibbens say that
cattle farmers in the South-West are beginning to give up breeding high value pedigree
animals because of the risk that they will lose them to TB.
He is pleased however that DEFRA's Chief Vet did attempt to put to rest the false notion
that badger vaccination is the "TB silver bullet". Although in the "edge" areas" many uninfected badgers
may well be protected by the vaccine, in places where bTB does exist "..It will not cure infected badgers
or stop them from infecting other badgers or cattle and it does not protect all the badgers
that are vaccinated, even if they are not already infected" He also mentions
"the vast area of forage maize now being grown across the Westcountry to fuel
heavily-subsidised AD plants"(i.e. anaerobic bio-digesters) which will encourage an even bigger badger population.
Read in full

August 20th 2014 ~ "We need a return to mixed agriculture for the sake of the land and the people," writes a retired vet.

Having read the posting above, he wrote:

"...I stood in a farm yard the other day with one of my old client's sons and we counted seven empty Dairy Farms
with not a living creature on them. I told him his father would turn in his grave if he could see old cars dumped
in his immaculate cowshed.
Now we see the increase in maize production.
Thirty or forty years ago we were collecting money for a badger vaccine!
At least your French neighbours are acknowledging that Wild Boar may play a part and not just poor old Brock.
..."

August 15th 2014 ~ Concern grows in France over the role of wild boar in the possible spread of bTB to human beings

The spread of bTB in Corsica has caused
the newspaper
Nice-Matin to quote a representative of the Corsican federation of hunting who said " Last year, a third of wild boars
shot were suspected of being (bTB) infected." The Federation is advising hunters to wear gloves and to subject the shot boar to high temperatures or prolongued freezing
in order to reduce the risk of inhaling the bacterium. The paper adds that protection from bTB is only assured if regular
boosters of BCG vaccine
are given to those likely to be in contact with the disease. As Professor Matthew Keeling from Warwick's School of Life Sciences and the Department of Mathematics
said recently,

"
The disease has been granted an epidemic status in England,
with the number of herds not officially TB free having doubled in the last 10 years to 9,236 in 2013. The disease
may also cross species barriers and infect other domestic and wild animals. Although rare, bTB transmission to humans
is also possible."

The fear, certainly in Southern France, is that bTB transmission to humans may well become less rare.

..and an effective injectable cattle vaccine is STILL
ten years away, he says (as it was said to be when we first began reporting on bTB in 2004). Defra is investing £24 million
"over the life of this parliament" in research and development of a cattle vaccine
and for an oral vaccine for badgers.
The Western
Morning News reports:

"....Defra vet Nigel Gibbens said an oral badger vaccine could be available more quickly than a cattle vaccine –
but that was still at least six years off."

He went on to say that "lessons had been learned" about the humaneness and effectiveness of the badger culls
and that extra training for marksmen was under way, along with "new assessments
of the badger numbers in the Somerset and Gloucestershire cull zones"
The government will offer grant support to groups who want to carry out badger trapping and injected vaccination in the so-called
Edge Area,
outside the Westcountry TB hotspot. This will come from an initial pot of £250,000.
Read in full.

August 12th 2014 ~ bTB spreading in France

When bTB is detected in France, the entire herd is generally killed. France was declared officially free of the
disease in 2001 - but things have changed for the worse in recent years. In my own local area of the Charente Maritime there have been two new cases
- and
legal measures for
the collecting (i.e. culling) of badgers for research and in order to combat the disease were taken at the beginning of August.
It is accepted that other wild animals such as wild boars and deer can also pass on the disease to livestock farms. See (in French) today's newspaper
Sud
Ouest.

August 8th 2014 ~ "Research into the development of vaccinations against TB in badgers and cattle was published in Veterinary Record."

Farming UK's article today on the report. Extract:
"There are significant gaps in our knowledge regarding the impact that the vaccination of either badgers or cattle could have in practice. For example,
there is a lack of empirical data on the effect of vaccinating badgers with the licensed vaccine (BadgerBCG) on TB incidence in cattle.." The article mentions the
five-year Defra-funded Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (BVDP) (Defra 2014b), the limitations for the viability of baited vaccines for badgers
and what is still needed for an effective cattle vaccine.

30th July 2014 ~ Enferplex bTB blood test is raising hopes beyond its use for camelids

Enfer Scientific has developed a rapid multi-antigen assay
for TB and has "optimised the assay for use in Cattle, Goats, Pigs and Wild Boar, Deer, Badger, Camelids" The video on their website can be seen on
YouTube, here. (Best to begin watching at 1.35) It shows that four technicians, working in the lab, can analyse 2,500
samples in three hours.Both the
Farmers Weekly and the
Cornish Guardian report today that SureFarm, which co-developed the Enferplex TB test in llamas and alpacas, is preparing an application to submit to DEFRA
for a trial of the product on dairy cattle in the UK. At the moment, using such a test on cattle is actually against the law.
During the British Alpaca Society trial,
the accuracy of the test in camelids was found to be close to 100% specific, with an extremely low risk of the test
developing false positives.

July 29th 2014 ~ "research with the aim to develop an effective, value for money oral BCG badger vaccine, which could be added to bait"

Professor Mark Chambers, of the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA)
gives a summary in the WMN of the article in the Veterinary Record about the work he and others are doing
to research and develop vaccinations against TB in badgers and cattle, and the obstacles we still need to overcome.
See
Western Morning News Extract:

"....Possible vaccine baits for badgers have been identified and field work is underway to determine the uptake by wild badgers of different numbers of baits marked with a harmless biomarker. Ultimately such bait would contain the final vaccine formula, which is yet to be finalised.
We are still in the research phase of the programme so it will be some years before an oral badger vaccine is ready to be taken through the authorisation process to make it legally available and ready for deployment.
AHVLA is also planning for possible field trials of a cattle BCG. ...AHVLA has developed tests to tell the difference between infected and vaccinated animals, which are known as the DIVA tests.
We have worked on a DIVA test using blood samples, and we are also working on a DIVA version of the skin test. Either would need to be comprehensively validated before it could be considered for use.
In addition, before BCG could be used in cattle we will have to provide evidence that the vaccination is safe; both for the animals and humans who later consume milk or meat from vaccinated cows.
This is big task and will require a major field study involving many cattle. Design work on what the field study will look like is currently underway.
Vaccination research is a big priority for us, but developing effective, practical and affordable vaccines for TB is not easy. The same is true for the scientific community working on human TB with whom we work very closely...."

July 25th 2014 ~ Why the BVA will support next year's badger cull

As their press release makes clear, the BVA feels that
their
call for improvements to humaneness and effectiveness of the pilot culls have been addressed.
They say that the BVA "is satisfied that the appointment of such an auditor addresses many of our original concerns.
However, BVA will continue to call upon the new Secretary of State to put in place independent analysis in order to give
confidence to the wider public." DEFRA has confirmed that the Department has committed to an independent audit of the way the protocols
are carried out during the cull, and that in future

shotguns would not be used for controlled shooting;

contractor selection, training and assessment would be enhanced;

the number of field observations of shooting and number of post mortem examinations of badgers would be in line with that carried out in year one; and

real-time information would ensure a better distribution of effort and that poor performing marksmen would be removed from the field.

July 16th 2014 ~ Oxford Mail editorial: "Action needs to be taken now to save the livelihoods of the county's farmers
and stop soaring prices."

TB is spreading in Oxfordshire. See
the local paper which
points out that bTB affects the urban population too.

July 15th 2014 ~ Owen Paterson has been sacked by Mr Cameron

In a move which inevitably reminds one of something by
Armando Iannucci, Owen Paterson has left DEFRA to be replaced by a woman of 38, Liz Truss, who has been an MP since 2010. (See
Wikipedia)
Unlike Mr Paterson, she would appear to have no special knowledge of agriculture, the current problems besetting
farmers nor the realities of bTB. However, the website "They Work for You" quotes
7 occasions on which she has mentioned farmers or farming. She read philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford.
Her last position was as an Education Minister under the egregious Michael Gove. The Independent notes that her appointment has much to do with:

"David Cameron's determination to shake off the perception that he has surrounded himself with a coterie of middle-class, middle-aged white men from
public school backgrounds in the home counties."

July 14th 2014 ~ "honesty about the natural world is needed, and hard to come by"

An article in the
Spectator (blog) this week quotes Charles Moore (as above) and asks, "..since when were environmental or culling
decisions made on the basis of which animal looks the cutest?"
As for the University of Warwick paper published in Nature
,(see also below) to which Professor Ian Boyd responded so robustly
on his website,
the Spectator blog article concludes:

" it's hard to argue that it's a good time to be a dairy farmer
in the UK. Talk of culling whole herds of cattle is enough to make the toughest dairy farmer shudder.
As (George) Eustice himself said: 'What this paper proposes would finish off the cattle and dairy industry in this country'."

The photo
at the top of the article shows a worried girl with her cows in front of a poster which reads simply "They're as good as dead now."

July 9th 2014 ~ All about bTB in animated drawing on Vimeo

Very much a beginners' guide
but neutral in tone and very informative. A few minutes long. See Vimeo.
Update. Comment received on July 10th
Thursday morning from a Wiltshire farmer about the Vimeo presentation:

"I would question the neutrality of the vimeo information that starts off by
saying that bTB is a cattle disease. There is a half hearted correction later. Mycobacterium bovis
is so called because the main agent of infection for man was by milk from infected cows.
There is no evidence to prove that it originated in cattle. In pre-history cattle living on open grassy plains
would have been unlikely hosts to the disease. The variant of M. tuberculosis we call bTB
is much more likely to have developed among people
living in tight knit communities in ill ventilated caves or hovels of their own construction or among badgers in their setts."

Informed comments are always gratefully received.

July 6th 2014 ~ Ireland: The Department accepts that the higher incidence of TB in Wexford and Wicklow is driven by wildlife.

The number of cases of TB on Wicklow farms is four times the national average.
Wicklow IFA chairman Tom Shortt blames both deer and badgers. "Deer densities should be about four to five deer
per square kilometre but some experts now suggest that there are about 14 to 15 deer per square kilometre in Wicklow"
Irish Independent

"...The Department accepts that the higher incidence of TB in Wexford and Wicklow
is driven by wildlife.
"The later implementation of the badger culling programme in these counties
due to staffing reasons, and the particular terrain involved makes badger culling more difficult.
This has impeded progress in eradication. The staffing issue has been addressed
and the badger culling programme is now being implemented more effectively," the Department said.

July 4th 2014 ~ Somerset farm contracts TB for the first time ever after wildlife sheltered there during the flooding.

"....About 200 acres of the 380-acre Oath Farm, Burrowbridge, was badly flooded earlier this year,
but the higher land remained dry and was inundated by wildlife seeking to escape the waters.
...

"There are lots of badger setts in the embankment, and our farm was the first bit
of dry land they could get to. We had a dozen or more badgers in the yard, walking around in broad daylight. We're a closed herd
and have never had TB – but during the floods we had every badger in Christendom here...We haven't been able to move or sell anything. And after the floods
we had no grass or anywhere dry to turn the cows on to. There are some fields that we're only just able to get back on to now..."

As one warmwell reader asks drily: "If, as we read in the Warwick paper
(See Nature), "the level of infection in the environment is predicted
to decay with a half-life of 34 days" and this includes the level of infection that comes from living,
infected badgers, how do they explain the reactors from a closed herd after the flooding brought in so many badgers?
Must have been the tooth fairy? Do badgers suffer from spontaneous combustion every 34 days?"

July 3rd 2014 ~ "Scientists need to have a sharper awareness of where the problem lies" Prof Ian Boyd responds to the Warwick paper

The study by researchers from
the University of Warwick, published in Nature yesterday, focusses on the way the disease
is passed between cattle - and then lumps together all other sources of disease, including that from infected badgers, in to a single, simple concept. The most audacious suggestion in the paper
- and that on which journalists have seized - is that killing ALL the cattle on an infected farm could reduce TB levels by 80 per cent
within six years.
(The UK experience of Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 and 2007 provides a salutary warning of how models can be abused in the interests of scientific opportunism.
We remember particularly the succinct comment by Dr Martin Hugh Jones on ProMed

"I have a phrase I use on my students and those over-enamored of their computers and models,
'Why should I believe you when you have a computer pallor and no mud on your shoes?' The truth is in the field,
not in the computer. When models are checked and rechecked against reality they can be fine-tuned and may eventually become
useful...")

In a robust response to the Warwick paper, Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Ian Boyd, wrote yesterday
on his website:(extract)

"....A key issue is whether badgers are able to sustain disease without the presence of cattle. This paper suggests not
but I am not so sure we have evidence strong enough to support such an inference from a study that made so little effort
to model the badger component of the disease cycle.
How should those who shoulder the responsibility for decision-making react to a paper like this?
My advice would be that one needs to take great care.
The interventions suggested here would affect the lives, careers and livelihoods of many thousands of people and
acting on them would require a much higher level of certainty than are present in the paper.....The Brooks-Pollock model
does not provide a good fit to the social process and/or the realities of the real world
because the epidemiological solution to bTB, including badger control, is only a part of this
much larger social problem. Scientists need to have a sharper awareness of where the problem lies
if they are to provide workable solutions.
"

July 2nd 2014 ~ Badgers "so far we have tested 48 carcases of which seven have tested positive for bovine TB"

The Stockton and Darlington Gazette
reports (at the very end of an article on the SRUC meeting at Junction 36 Rural Auction Centre, near Kendal) on a Cheshire-based programme that has "brought together the NFU,
farmers, vets, AHVLA, Liverpool University vet school, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, and The Badger Trust". Extract:

The programme was outlined by Professor Malcolm Bennett of Liverpool University. He said:
"The programme has been running for four months and so far we have tested 48 carcases of which seven
have tested positive for bovine TB. We are hoping to test 60-70 carcases and would like about 100,
but are restricted by cost." Prof Bennett added: "We would like to extend the work into Lancashire and Cumbria
and to find more partners. In addition, we would like to do more work with live badgers and,
if testing positive for bovine TB, cull them at the same time as infected cattle on the same farm."

If readers have any further information it would be interesting to hear it.

June 30th 2014 ~ "... our latest so called "reactor", ....as last year,
the best heifer with a lovely heifer calf, from the family of my best cow that I kept alive through FMD"

An email received today encapsulates the misery facing so many
farmers: a flawed policy that seems needlessly cruel, the financial and emotional misery caused by the present
testing regime, reaction to a bizarre change to the Meat Hygiene Service
that suggests bTB is even more rampant in other species than is acknowledged - and all this from one very decent
farmer,
altruistic and experienced, who is all too aware of
the various coming crises of which governments prefer not to speak. Read email in full.

June 2014 ~ Evidence given by a pedigree livestock farmer who is also a vet of 38 years experience and a conservationist.

Mr Ian Kett gave evidence to the EFRA Select Committee in January last year. His
evidence can be read in full online. He begins, after giving his own background, by explaining why the numbers of badgers has risen since it gained protection and why he feels the badgerproblem is not primarily bTB but
rather overpopulation - which in turn has led to feeding pressures causing them to kill and cause to decline other British wildlife species. "Hungry badgers have been forced into farm buildings in their search for food,
thus increasing contact with domestic animals, in particular cattle through contamination of feed by badger urine." He feels that
vaccination, were it successful, would simply exacerbate the existing problems - but in fact,

"
BCG is only 70% effective in Man and of unknown efficacy in cattle and badgers. 2 doses have been shown
to give protection to badgers as assessed by blood testing but not by assessment of clinical disease.
There is no data to show a benefit from a single dose."

The following paragraph is particularly important to anyone taking a serious interest in the bTB problem.

"... Animals grazing grassland contaminated by diseased badger urine are exposed to millions of bacteria.
This urine contamination is particular to the pathology of the disease in badgers,
which suffer a fulminating form of the disease with urinary excretion a major feature.
(Gallagher and Clifton-Hadley, 2000) In cattle, by contrast, bTB is chronic and walled off in tubercles
or thick walled abscesses from which there is no bacterial excretion.
These are most often in the lymph nodes. When in the chest lymph nodes or
in the lungs these tubercles may discharge into the respiratory passages and
create a low risk of infection to other cattle in a group by inhalation.
There is thus some, but a relatively insignificant, risk of cattle to cattle transmission.
This is borne out by the majority of outbreaks in housed cattle affecting small numbers of animals.
By contrast, where feedstuff contamination is heavy, large numbers of cattle may be affected at the same time.
When susceptible animals are removed from the source of infection, no further cases occur.
This has been our experience in our 2012 outbreak where infected latrine sites on autumn grazing were involved.
In addition a diseased badger was identified on our neighbour's farm where there was a concurrent bTB outbreak.
Unfortunately the badger carcase was not submitted for laboratory testing."

He explains why the Randomised Badger Cull Trial (RBCT) headed by Professor Krebs has largely been discredited
by independent observers owing to the lack of any peer review, and the fact that the conclusion took no account of the poor cull
rates achieved and the effect of significant disruption by animal rights groups.
Read in full especially for the recommendations which seem to us to be vital, humane and urgently needed.

June 27th 2014 ~ More detail on the "development of a low-cost, disposable printed sensor will
revolutionise current testing methods"

"..... The National Farmers Union (NFU) estimates that a typical bovine TB
outbreak costs a farmer £34,000 (€42,500),
with roughly £20,000 of this paid for by compensation from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Since 2004 bovine TB has cost UK taxpayers £500 million, led to slaughter of over 250,000 cattle and
caused the government to embark on an unpopular cull of badgers...
Using cheap skin-mounted printed sensors ... a means to radically cut the cost of human healthcare in the next decade.
The technology would be readily adaptable to animals too, if an economic benefit could be identified,
as it has been with the recent CPI led project."

We reported on June 3rd (below)on this project. It hopes to develop a
prototype in three years. For worried farmers, this is a very long time. However, any improvement on the present single rather unreliable skin test
which continues to condemn many healthy cows and calves would evidently be welcomed.

June 27th 2014 ~ Farm vet, Dr Ueli Zellweger is still very concerned about infected cats on farms

He wrote today to express concern
that, in his opinion, the Bovine TB Genotyping Group at AHVLA might be downplaying the risk. He wrote "...As vet surgeon I remember loads of dairy farms where the cats families were waiting around milking time to get their plates filled – and once the milk
had been poured into the dishes they were all licking/sipping it together – and sneezing into the very plates!" While the reported
incidence of TB infected cats has been very low so far, it is undoubtedly the case that
the risk to cattle from an infected farm cat would be real. Our thanks to Dr Zellweger.

"The predominant use of images of healthy badgers to open or conclude a report was felt to weight the argument in favour of the anti-cull
lobby. People asked where were the pictures of sick badgers with TB, or infected cows being shot, or a distraught farming
family coming to terms with the loss of their animals.

The Telegraph quotes Mark Hedges, editor of Country Life, who said coverage was often
sanitised and "did the countryside a real disservice in the process" adding: "The BBC is incredibly squeamish about the countryside."

June 23rd 2014 ~ "lack of independent monitoring would undermine the credibility of any results that come out of the second year"

Tim Coulson, Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford, editor of the Journal of Animal Ecology, and member of the independent panel
that oversaw last year's pilot badger culls, has written in the
Journal of Animal Ecology Extract :

"we devised a suite of statistical analyses to check for biases and to estimate uncertainties.
Once the cull was over, and all analyses were conducted, we were able to say with 95% confidence
that the culls failed to deliver anywhere near the 70% target. .....
we were able to conclude that it was highly improbable that the culls met
Defra's humaneness target of no more than 5% of badgers taking more than 5 minutes to die.
.....we made recommendations on the way that contractors are trained.
.....Year 2 is approaching. Given the success of the animal ecology methods used, presumably the government would continue
to use these tried and tested methods? Methods that are hard to cheat. Methods based on mark-recapture analysis,
which is arguably the most innovative statistical development in animal ecology in the last 25 years. Methods based on mark-recapture analysis, which is arguably the most innovative statistical development in animal ecology in the last 25 years.
Surprisingly, not,.....
...The government has not announced exactly what they are going to do, but they will not use methods that allow the effectiveness of the continuing pilots to be assessed in year 2 in the same way they were assessed in year 1.
In addition to changing the protocols, there is to be no more independent
oversight of the ongoing culls. So who will oversee the analysis of data and the interpretation of results? "

June 20th 2014 ~ Owen Paterson repeats, "We have to use every tool available to us".

He says (extract),

"....vaccine is not a practical option in 'hotspot' areas such as Somerset and Gloucestershire.
Some people have pointed to the Welsh vaccination project as the
reason for the drop in TB cases in Wales. But vaccination is only
taking place in one small part of north Pembrokeshire,
covering an area equivalent to just 1.5 per cent of Wales's total land area.
It has also been going for too short a time to have had a major impact.
There have been some suggestions recently following a research paper
into small-scale culling carried out 25 years ago, that culling like the 'test and vaccinate or remove'
research project which has just started in Northern Ireland can lead to increased cases of TB.
This has been used by opponents of the policy to further their argument that culling is not the answer.
But the more recent randomised badger culling trials demonstrated, and scientists have agreed,
that any increases in cases of TB were short-lived and gave way to a sustained and long-term reduction in outbreaks.
These were still apparent more than nine years later..."

June 16th 2014 ~ 4 Four-day international bTB conference begins in Wales as proposed new controls get even tougher on UK farmers

Professor Glyn Hewinson, lead TB Scientist at AHVLA, is quoted in the Farmers Guardian

"These events provide a unique opportunity for the international community to come together every few years in order to share
ideas, help facilitate the co-ordination of research among par­ticipating
countries and foster co-ordination and collaboration between policy makers, epidemiologists, scientists and economists."

He said
the conference's guiding principle is that "successful TB eradication is a balance of science,
compliance, finance and appropriate control strategies". Meanwhile, DEFRA seems once again to want to pile more onto the farmers'
side
of this assumed "balance". Even though DEFRA's new figures appear to show that the
disease has fallen to a 10-year low., it is proposing even more tough controls on cattle movements. Penalties could get stricter.
Proposed new controls include the removal of pre-movement exemptions for cattle moving between several holdings
under the same farm ownership, (sole occupancy authorities) so that some cattle keepers in the hot spots and border areas who have been able to move animals over long
distances without any TB testing will no longer be able to - although moving cattle between areas of owned land within 10 miles will be allowed
without further testing. See more in an
article in the Farmers Weekly .

June 16th 2014 ~ A plea for all sides in the bovine TB debate to work together

The Farmers Guardian today quotes Welsh CVO Christianne Glossop who said the 4 day conference
provides "another opportunity to highlight the issue of bovine TB with Wales' non farming community":

"This debate has to move on from the binary portrayal
of farmers versus animal rights activists. Bovine TB is a problem that
affects everyone and given the social, emotional and financial impact of the disease, it is vital that we all work
together in cooperation to ensure its eradication. We know we can beat TB. Other countries have done it
but it is going to be a long haul and this conference,
and the opportunity it provides for us to learn from the experiences of others...."

On June 3rd below we reported on the start of the
"Test and Vaccinate or Remove" (TVR)
Wildlife Intervention Research Project that has started in the Banbridge area of County Down. The WMN
now reports that researchers from
the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Imperial College London and the University of Sheffield are warning that
TVR could disrupt remaining badgers into moving around more causing bTB in livestock could increase as a result. Professor Woodroffe is quoted:

"TVR sounds appealing because only infected badgers are killed.
Unfortunately our findings suggest that the planned TVR pilot could alter badger behaviour in ways which
risk exacerbating the bovine TB problem, rather than controlling it. This is one reason why ZSL is exploring
alternative options to reduce transmission between badgers and cattle."

June 10th 2014 ~ New Zealand's battle against bTB in wildlife

New Zealand, it seems, is aiming to persuade environmental groups that the killing of bTB-prone wild mammals such as possums is beneficial for wildlife in the longterm.
In the Waikato area, 800,000 hectares of the country's TB risk area has been declared free of TB since 2011. Voxy.co.nz reports

"Waikato TBfree Committee Chairman John Bubb has had first-hand experience with bovine TB and how it affects farmers' livelihoods. In TB risk areas, possums cause the majority of new herd infections in farmed cattle and deer.
"To declare this area free of TB, wild animal surveys will be undertaken after the operation to check for the presence or
absence of the disease," said Mr Bubb."

June 6th 2014 ~ BVA has serious reservations about the lack of independent monitoring in future pilot culls.

As we reported below,
the British Veterinary Association welcomed the decision not to roll out badger culling to new areas in England until steps were taken to improve
the effectiveness and humaneness of controlled shooting, backed by "independent analysis and auditing by a non-governmental body" However,
DEFRA's plans are to continue with the pilots this year without independent monitoring. The culls will be monitored by DEFRA personnel, it seems.
The problem is that DEFRA does not always command public trust in its expertise or knowledge - and as the BVA President, Robin Hargreaves, says:

"Plenty of people with experience in the field wondered if culling could ever be done effectively
given the way the pilot culls were set up. The holy grail in the long-run is to identify setts which are infected and
eliminate them underground..."

BVA position May 2014Although the BVA may feel that the underground killing of infected badgers in infected setts
would be more "publicly acceptable" there remains the problem of humane killing - and of a public who fails to see the necessity
of eliminating badgers in the hotspots. This is unfortunate when those closest to the crisis, the farmers and the vets who see the ever-increasing devastation it brings, know that the spread of the disease
cannot be halted in Britain while bTB remains in roaming wildlife.

June 3rd 2014 ~ "The development of a low cost, disposable printed sensor will revolutionise current bTB testing methods"

While news of a revolutionary hand-held rapid diagnotic device is always cheering, it usually carries with it a long time frame.
The news from
"The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), CompanDX Ltd, Public Health England and Sapient Sensors Limited" is no exception to this.
The £1.1 million project, "co-funded by the UK's innovation agency", and which "could help spot the disease from a blood test rather than the time consuming skin test currently in use"
will take three years and hopes to produce a prototype at the end. more details
Meanwhile, unfortunately, heartbreakingly little is happening in Britain to prevent the rapid spread of bTB in wildlife and in our dwindling number of livestock farms.

June 3rd 2014 ~ Northern Ireland: TVR Wildlife Intervention Research Project is taking place in a 100km² area

The Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister, Michelle O'Neill, has announced that the Test and Vaccinate or Remove (TVR)
Wildlife Intervention Research Project has started in the Banbridge area of County Down. See the article in the
Dromore Leader The project involves:

"..seeking access permission from land owners, setting humane traps
to capture badgers, taking samples from badgers, microchipping and vaccinating them against Bovine TB
or where they test positive for TB, removing them. The aim of the TVR research project is to describe
the effects of implementing a test and vaccinate or remove intervention on badgers in an area of high cattle TB prevalence,
such as in the Banbridge area. It will also greatly add to our knowledge
base and provide currently unknown data on badgers.
The TVR research project will run for five years between May and December each year."

(While the aim of this research project
is commendable,
many might feel that
the problems remain of
accurate live diagnosis and the stress effect on latent disease of trapping and handling.)

May 30th 2014 ~ Another bitter blow for Cumbria

One hundred-and-twenty-nine animals in a dairy herd in Kirkby Lonsdale reacted to skin tests and have been slaughtered.
The Times and Star
reports here. The herd had been tested late last year and found to be clear of the disease but six months later many reactors were found.
The farms from which the animals were sourced were tested but no traces of TB were found. The paper reports that a "surveillance of wildlife in the area has also come up negative".

May 30th 2014 ~ What can happen when infected animals are vaccinated.

For some time
we, like others, have been uncomfortably aware that the present vaccines against bTB can, in certain circumstances, be positively dangerous.
Our concern is underlined today by this email from Dr Ueli Zellweger, an expert in bTB and vet of many years experience

"What is described as side effects in the video below is nothing else than a
hyper allergic reaction following the vaccination with BCG.
It really can be dramatic with casualties within hours or the next few days
being a rare consequence.
And this for sure also happens when badgers which are already
TB carriers are so carelessly vaccinated – according DEFRA's plans
(and the guitarist's plans) not only once but repeatedly every year.
The more TB is advanced in a body (Tb carrier) the more likely is a heavy allergic reaction …
and the more likely it is that such an animal starts shedding millions of bTB bacteria every day even
if it had a so called closed form of TB before it was vaccinated (closed form= non-spreading tb bacteria)
Thus it is much worse than the allergic symptoms of hay-fever for example because TB is a very slow-progressing
infectious disease.
As you know hay-fever is caused by very few pollens of a grass or plant. The skin test for cattle
is really a very minimal dose of allergen but it is enough to cause this type of risky allergic reaction
including the dramatic symptoms of asthma – so obvious in this video sequence (from Bovine TB Blog):

(What the alpacas in the video appeared
to be reacting to in such a dramatic way in this case was not BCG vaccination but the tuberculin antigen used in the intradermal skin test.
An allergy - however the allergen comes into contact with a body - is one of the least controllable reaction of the body's defences. The intradermal test is enough as also is the BCG vaccination to provoke such a response.) It is disquieting to realise that it is nearly five years ago (July 21 2009) that
Dr Zellweger sent this open letter to warmwell.com
:
DEFRA and its TB Vaccine for Badgers and Cattle
Extract:".....Therefore the body's defence against TB has to work by making an allergic type
of reaction instead of antibodies, a reaction which is made use of when humans and cattle are skin tested for TB."

May 29th 2014 ~ Norwegian alpaca herds suspected of being infected following the arrival of 28 Alpacas from southern England

On May 22nd the Norwegian Veterinary Institute announced suspected bTB in Norwegian alpacas. They were being kept in solitary
confinement after several of the imported animals had shown
a positive reaction to the skin test and additional serological tests.
"Confirmation will need further investigation" said the Norwegian authorities last week. The alpacas were imported from the South of England in the autumn of 2013.
Norway has been officially bTB free since 1986. The
Beef Site reported on Tuesday that "12 alpaca herds are now infected
with bovine TB after the batch reached Norway in the autumn".Molecular typing of the isolates should be able to identify the
spoligotype and its likely origin. As we have said before, most recently on May 19th (below),
many of us have been very concerned that there is still no mandatory TB surveillance regime for camelids. DEFRA admit camelids
can carry the disease for years, and camelids can have advanced TB lesions throughout their system without showing symptoms.
Although pre-death testing of alpacas
is notoriously difficult, the results of recent research (see
source pdf) suggest that

"antemortem diagnosis of Mycobacterium bovis
in South American camelids may be possible using a PCR test on clinical samples,
however more work is required to determine sensitivity and specificity, and the practicalities of applying the test in the field".

Work in this area moves at a heartbreakingly slow pace but money is hard to come by when immediate financial returns are not in prospect.

May 23rd 2014 ~ The farmer offered to pay the £200 difference to ensure his TB reactor cattle were slaughtered locally,
but AHVLA officials refused.

Sometimes an article comes along that breaks through one's defence system for
remaining professionally as
impassive as possible. Today, the
FG reports on a Devon farmer aghast at the thought of his heavily pregnant TB reactor cows being transported 170 miles to a
Welsh slaughterhouse because the AHVLA
"had a contract with the abattoir in Wales which was offering to pay £200 more than his local slaughter house." The farmer,
Mr Wallbridge, had explained to Owen Paterson:

"I fully accept that the cows need
to be slaughtered, but their welfare is important and it is not fair to make sick cows travel
for so long. The pregnant cows are very heavy and it is not fair to have them standing in a lorry for so long,
and the milkers would need milking. On such a long journey, the odds of them falling over in the lorry and
getting trampled and injured increase, and I'm not happy about that."

One imagines that no reader of this article
will be "happy" either.
It appears that Mr Paterson agreed that it was "madness" and promised he would look into it and do something about it,
"but we only have until Tuesday to get this put right," said Mr Wallbridge, adding,"I feel like civil servants
are making up rules about things they don't understand. They don't know about animals and
they're not thinking about the cows at all in this." The AHVLA spokesman had what many might feel was the cynical audacity
to suggest that they were trying to save money for the "taxpayer".

May 23rd 2014 ~ "We won't have a cattle industry unless we wake up and get a grip on this."

"Mr Paterson said the nation's attitude to the badger cull could be divided roughly into thirds – with a third in favour,
a third against and a third with no view. He insisted the pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire would re-start;
but it would need a Conservative majority in Parliament to roll out the culls more widely."

Mr Paterson said that David Cameron backed him on this issue.

May 22nd 2014 ~ The BVA will not be supporting the Badger Trust's application for a judicial review.

The British Veterinary Association in its
16th April news release made it clear that it could support further culling by controlled shooting in the pilot areas only if
if steps were taken
to "improve both its effectiveness and humaneness and if there is robust monitoring and collation of results
and independent analysis and auditing by a non-governmental body". Yesterday's Statement(extract) seeks to make their present position clear:

"....Since 16 April we have been in dialogue
with Defra to seek assurances that these issues will be addressed,
and those discussions are ongoing. We will not be taking a further position on the pilot culls
until BVA Council has had the opportunity to consider Defra's plans in full, when they are made available.
We are concerned that recent media reports, and the Badger Trust's news release of 20 May announcing
the application for a judicial review, have misrepresented our position and that some news articles
have incorrectly suggested that BVA has withdrawn its support for badger culling as part of the overall strategy
to eradicate bovine TB. BVA continues to believe that the TB eradication strategy for England
will only be successful if we are able to use all of the available tools, including targeted, humane badger culling."

May 19th 2014 ~ Alpacas: The NFU is concerned that there is still no mandatory TB surveillance regime for camelids

Nearly all
warm-blooded animals, including ourselves,
are susceptible to bTB. As we have pointed out many times on this website,
alpacas are particularly susceptible to the disease and unlike cows, once infected, can die quickly after having spread
it to other animals who come into contact with them.
Alpacas often move around the country in order for mating to take place. It is vital that the disease should not be allowed to spread
in this way as a result of a very ineffective skin test and the fact that testing is voluntary.
The
Farmers Guardian reports today:

"...the NFU said the Government should go much further,
introducing mandatory registration and movement recording for camelids, as well as mandatory routine testing of herds."

In
this video on the BovineTB Blogspot
we see a
perfectly healthy-looking young alpaca under a year old. It had passed the skin test twice, but failed the blood test.

"He is eating, inquisitive,
bright and has no weight loss. No outward signs at all."

Very shortly after this had been filmed, he was put down. The
post mortem showed that he had
TB lesions throughout his vital organs. Tests which use blood samples demonstrate that the skin test
is less than 5% sensitive in alpacas. This means that for every one infected animal detected by the skin test at
least 20 may well be missed. For more information on alpacas and TB, please see the Camelid TB Support & Research Group

May 19th 2014 ~ "TB is out of control
and for the sake of the badgers, the cattle and the farmers we need to come up with a solution."

A student at Bristol University,
Ben Eagle,
organised a debate for staff and students: "This House believes that culling badgers is
necessary to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in the United Kingdom." The motion was not carried - as the
WMN
reports. However, the student's comments seem well worth quoting here:

"This debate was born from a desire to bring those on both sides together,
to look for consensus (if possible) and to encourage debate within the academic community.
As a conservationist, an environmentalist and a farmer's son, I sympathised with both viewpoints and I wanted to bring those
at the forefront of the debate together, to convince me towards a particular view. I am a believer in consensus
but struggle to see this being reached in this debate. TB is out of control
and for the sake of the badgers, the cattle and the farmers we need to come up with a solution.
To confirm what that solution will be we must rely on objectivity and
the most up-to-date scientific knowledge, whatever that may show, and not be swayed by emotion or our own personal background."

May 13th 2014 ~ France. bTB is spreading in the South West.

While France is still officially bTB free, it had 78 confirmed outbreaks last year -
and in the southern Charente area there have been 5 already this year.
As we report below, concern about the badger's
role in bTB in France is resulting in instructions in certain specified areas being issued for badgers ,
as "l'un des vecteurs de la maladie", as the regional newspaper
Sud-Ouest puts it, to be captured and
tested. The French Agriculture
Ministry is resolved to "prendre le taureau par les cornes", says the paper.

May 8th 2014 ~ "The philosophy seems to be that one test result, no matter how dubious or weakly positive, is enough to condemn
a bovine to death" - Dr Ruth Watkins

At the risk of further upsetting farmers - such as the unfortunate
Cirencester farmer below, whose champion bull has just been
condemned as a result of bTB testing - it seems right to link again to the comments of microbiologist Dr Watkins
Paper for discussion on Bovine TB in the UK in February 2012
She says that "verification of the severe reading for the SICCT skin test should be made: the severe reading
should be abandoned as inaccurate if it cannot be verified" and she regrets
the fact that "neither repetition nor a different test is applied to verify the result"

Extract:
"....It is never checked out (inconclusive skin tests may be repeated once 60 days later, if repeated before 60 days there may
be a false negative result because of tolerance to tuberculin).
Neither repetition nor a different test is applied to verify the result. The overall result is the removal
of infected and uninfected cattle whilst leaving any cattle that are infected but not
producing any reaction to the skin test, nor to the gamma interferon test if that test is used,
because they have switched to antibody production and switched off their cell-mediated immunity to M bovis..." Read
recommendations in full

May 8th 2014 ~ "the cubs don't come above ground for weeks
and certainly are not going to go into the traps during their first 2 - 4 months of life."

UPDATE on the Roslin study. An email from Dr Ueli Zellweger comments:
"I dare to point out that what is good for human beings and cattle regarding BCG vaccination is most likely valid for badgers
also.
I cannot see any reason why it should be different for this species.
If only the adults are vaccinated you get nowhere whatsoever – the cubs don't come above ground for weeks
and certainly are not going to go into the traps during their first 2 - 4 months of life. Thus …. The whole DEFRA policy
(and 150 something DEFRA laymen/women vaccinators) amounts to nothing more than throwing sand in the eyes of the public
AND the innocent crowd of politicians; money spent worse than throwing it into the Atlanic." We're grateful to Dr Zellweger, a vet of some 30 years experience.
His emails from February 2010 on "Why BCG does not perform like other vaccines" and other comments
seem just as relevant today as they were then. The years pass and the disease spreads relentlessly - as at this
Cirencester farm where the "gentle giant" of
a prize bull has just been shot. (Report by the Gloucestershire Echo yesterday.) The farmer commented:"The day this does not affect me, is the day I stop farming.
The disease has had a huge impact on the industry and farmers."

May 6th 2014 ~ Bovine vaccination: "at 24 months there was only a 20% reduction"

FWi reports on animal experiments carried out by the Roslin Institute
that reinforces the now widely accepted view that vaccinating cattle with BCG can show significant reduction in bTB infection
only when - as in humans - it is administered to the very young.

May 6th 2014 ~ "the Min of Ag and Fish took drastic action"

A letter remembering when, following drastic action from a Ministry devoted to Agriculture and Fisheries
in the 1950s, "TB had
virtually disappeared from our cattle and the badgers had returned to our woodlands as far as one could tell also free of TB."
Blackmore Vale Magazine

The president of the NFU has visited the Dorset farm owned by Paul Gould, the county chairman of the union.
A quarter of Mr Gould's pregnant cows, having returned positive tests, will be slaughtered. Since he has farmed a closed herd for more than five years,
he believes wildlife coming onto the farm must have been the source of the bTB. The disease is endemic in Dorset now and many farmers
there are desperately worried. (see Bridport News)
Owen Paterson said last month that the government will not immediately extend the badger cull to Dorset –
but will continue with pilot schemes in Somerset and Gloucestershire where the disease is also endemic. Mr Raymond pointed out that vaccination has a chance of being effective only
for healthy, uninfected animals living in edge areas. Unfortunately, Dorset's infected wildlife
cannot be helped by vaccination. Meanwhile, farmers like Paul Gould are suffering the consequences of a disease that continues to expand its range.

UPDATE May 3rd 2014~ "helplessly watching bTB approach"

In reply to the paragraph below, we have received the following:

"Dear Warmwell,
The "professor of natural environment" has obviously not seen badgers digging under drystone walls.
I have seen holes big enough for toddlers to crawl through.
It may be possible to keep badgers out of buildings but one is bound to ask how
that could be achieved when cattle are grazing. If fencing had to be buried several feet deep,
to prevent tunnelling under, it would amount to a civil engineering project for most farms."

Our thanks to Mr A Bradley,
a mixed livestock farmer from the Yorkshire Dales, who says he is "helplessly watching bTB approach" A less tactful comment received about Professor Robbie McDonald:"no education
in veterinary science nor bacteriology but a high pitched voice to spread dangerous theories with."

May 2 2014 ~ "Sadly, whether we cull or vaccinate, we are looking at quite modest effects on the disease"

This is the view of the "professor of natural environment" at Exeter University.
Professor Robbie McDonald told the British Society of Animal Science annual conference
at the University of Nottingham on Wednesday that:

"One in 10 farms have lots of badgers, so any biosecurity measures
can help. We know they are very effective - simply putting a fence or gate in front of a badger will stop it.
The whole disease control process depends very critically on the farmers' perception
of the measure and how it fits with their business.
To overcome this whole problem we may not actually need greater changes
in the tools we have available. The focus on badger culling means the tools
we have now are being compromised and we have ended up with minimal gains.
Alongside all the technological and ecological improvements can make,
we need to spend considerable time and effort on resolving the social
mess we have got into..." Read at FWi website

It would be interesting to see what farmers who are already doing their utmost to keep
badgers away from their animals will think of the professor's
view that "the biology of the problem isn't as hard as we make out".

May 2nd 2014 ~ France: Badgers are to be caught and analysed for bTB in the Ardennes

"C'est la tuberculose bovine qui va conduire à la mort du blaireau," is
the view of a young man in the Ardennes who worries that it is bTB rather than the new law passed last week allowing
limited capture of badgers that will threaten their survival.
According to L'Union L'Ardennais spokesman Jean-Luc Jaeg from the sub-prefecture of Vouziers wants to reassure those
worried that the new measure could threaten the badger with extinction. (our translation)

" There is no desire to eliminate the badger. It is protected by a national convention. The plan is rather to observe
them in order to know which can transmit the bacterium.
The procedure consists in trapping badgers in order to analyze them for presence of disease But the capture zones are limited. Two from any
sett where bTB is least reported and up to fifteen from the nine places where disease is now present. Only authorized professionals can take part."

April 26th 2014 ~ "17 samples morphed into 592 dead alpacas"

As the bovine TB Blogspot
points out this week, by far the biggest cause of death in alpacas is TB. Defra's updated tables show almost 600 alpaca deaths in 2012.
George Eustice managed to get his department's
figures more accurate after his visit
last December (2013)
to Dianne Summers' alpacas (photo from
Bovine TB Blogspot). Before this, DEFRA had reported single confirming microbial samples rather than individual affected animals -
but even now, DEFRA's latest
"other species" statistics
are neither very clear nor up to date. The Bovine TB Blogspot points out:

"..As we have said in previous postings,
this disease is no longer a 'bovine' problem.Polite Note: Defra's 'other species' figures for 2013 appear
to have stalled in August / September of that year: Was it too hot for the computer?
Everyone out with their buckets and spades? Easter egg hunt? Come on guys and gals, update those tables.
Eight months is too long to wait." (
Read in full)

(We mention Mrs Summers and the excellent
Alpaca TB Support website, she set up as an independent organisation working on behalf of all
camelid owners "irrespective of membership of any society" several times below. Despite her own herd remaining clear since coming out of
restrictions in May 2010, and having taken all possible precautions, Dianne Summers
was diagnosed in 2012 with the same spoligotype as her own alpaca herd and
suffered from the inevitably miserable side effects of treatment. Let no one pretend that cattle are the only host for the Mycobacterium
tuberculosis bacterium - nor that they are the only unfortunate victims of this wretched disease.)

An article
(in French) appeared
last month on the French
"Anses" website (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire
de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail) explaining the research work carried
out in a paper entitled: "Exposure of Wild Boar to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex
in France since 2000 Is Consistent with the Distribution of Bovine Tuberculosis Outbreaks in Cattle"
Extract:

"...In December 2000,
the European Commission declared France as officially TB-free.
Nevertheless, the number of infected herds has increased in a few French areas where several
cattle outbreaks are still detected each year, especially in Côte d'Or, in the East, in Dordogne
and in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in South-West (hard grey on Figure 1), or in Camargue, on the Mediterranean coast.
The first cases of wildlife TB in France were detected in red deer (Cervus elaphus) and in Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa)
in 2001 in the Brotonne-Mauny forest (Normandy, in the North-West) a particular closed-environment area.
In 2006, the TB prevalence in this small area reached 24% in red deer,
which appeared to act as the primary host, and 42% in wild boar which appeared to act as a spillover host.
In 2003, a red deer was also found infected in Côte d'Or where grouped cases of wild boar and badgers
(Meles meles) have been regularly identified since 2007. Elsewhere in France, sporadic TB cases
in wild boar and/or badgers are detected in the vicinity of cattle outbreaks.
The genotypes of M. bovis strains infecting both cattle and wildlife are identical, clearly indicating
an epidemiological link between cattle, the environment and wildlife which could be involved
in a common transmission cycle. Whereas three potential wild MTC reservoirs are suspected - wild boar, red deer, and badger -
their role in the French TB epidemiological scenario is still not clearly understood."

What is made clear is that France, with the support of their Agricultural Ministry,
intends to continue putting resources and expertise into the question of exactly what role is played by wildlife in the
transmission and continuing circulation of bovine TB. (We are grateful, once again, to Sabine Zentis for bringing this article to our attention.)

April 22 2014 ~ A change of direction is urgently needed. Identification is key to targeted culling of infected wildlife.

An extract from the
Bovine TB Blogspot this month
comments on the Princess Royal's contribution :

"...the Princess Royal tells us to 'forget cattle'
and concentrate on the damage badgers are doing to the ecology as a whole,
and that they should be controlled preferably by underground euthanasia...But from the EU, via Defra and its agencies
we have a shed load
of punitive cattle measures, the likelihood of levies to fund future breakdowns and yet little or nothing
on which to hang our collective hats concerning tuberculosis in wildlife.
So, a brick wall or an opportunity to change course?"

A change of course that surely anyone would applaud is
a scientific effort to identify setts
as genuinely infected so that genuine targeted culling can take place. As we have said below, the recent
alpaca "PCR Proof of Concept" study, published in the
Irish Veterinary Journal (pdf)
, found that PCR
was extremely accurate and agreed with the animal's post mortem results. There were no false positives.The
Bovine TB Blogspot again:

"..
Please, do not throw this baby out with its bath water.
...
How are any samples for badger sett PCR screens identified, and what is their source?
Is that source secure, unbiased and the samples 'uncontaminated'?
Are samples being collected on a regular basis, or is repeat screening carried out on a single sample?
All these factors may influence results of DNA type screening.
From epidemiological information gathered patiently over decades, it was found that
infected badger groups are not constantly shedding m.bovis bacteria.
Thus in
a group of a dozen animals,
all may have the disease but may not all be 'infectious' at the same time.
Their tuberculous lesions wall up, and shedding from them is thus intermittent:
thus faecal material collected over time, may give varying degrees of contamination when sampled..
In the latter stages of disease, PQs confirmed that a 'super excreter' badgers, with infectious tuberculous
lesions in several organs, will shed constantly in the months before it finally dies.
These animals have been excluded by their peer groups, living alone and often close to farm buildings."
Read in full

The successful PCR work on alpacas was lab-based. What is urgently needed is more work to
"determine sensitivity and specificity, and the practicalities of applying the test in the field." From where will the funding come?

April 22 2014 ~ The rollout of the badger cull in England has been "delayed and not postponed": Owen Paterson.

Mr Paterson has told the
Shropshire Star - his local constituency's newspaper - that
the decision not to extend the pilot schemes to the rest of England.
is "not a postponement, it is a delay". One must hope that there will be more emphasis placed on confirming disease in setts before culls take place.
He told the paper

"I feel bitterly disappointed that we can not go any faster with this.
We are delaying so that we can learn from the lessons of the pilots and move forward.
I know the farmers in the TB affected areas of Market Drayton and Ellesmere and all down
the Shropshire Marches are upset the culls have been delayed and I understand this...
"

Martin Howlett, the regional board chairman of the NFU South West region
was quoted yesterday in the
Western Dail Press

"..farmers think why on Earth are
we sacrificing all these cattle and putting them and ourselves
through a huge amount of stress when we know that the disease is still out
there thriving in the fields hosted unwittingly by its primary wildlife vector – badgers –
for which it shows no mercy and is an incurable curse too.
We are especially concerned because other farmed and wildlife species as well as domestic pets and even humans in direct contact with infection are susceptible as well. Anyone with a genuine interest in animal health and welfare would surely see the sense in countering the main sources
of infection and, unfortunately,
where the disease is acute among badgers, vaccination is not curative and cannot tackle it."

April 22 2014 ~ "We do not have a major TB problem on our farm but TB is a major problem for our business"

The
Farmers Guardian today quotes Pembrokeshire county chairman, Mike Plumb, on the subject of the Welsh Government's decision
to remove, from September, TB pre-movement testing exemptions for cattle that move between blocks of land within a farmer's
Sole Occupancy Authority.

"This proposal to remove the exemption for TB pre-movement testing in these circumstances will only serve to add significant financial costs for many cattle keepers and add
unnecessary complexity and red tape. We urge the Welsh Government to reconsider its stance and look again
at the potential practical implications and challenges this policy move will have on the day-to-day operation
of many farming businesses."

The
FG illustrates the
grave financial difficulties faced by one farmer, William Prichard, whose farm near Fishguard
is run on four separate units and employs 13 full-time staff. He estimates
that even though only one reactor has been confirmed in the past 30 months,on-going bovine TB restrictions are costing
the farm £216,000 a year - a calculation based on movement restrictions,the additional labour costs
and the lack of suitable marketing outlets for selling livestock from a TB restricted farm.

April 16th 2014 ~ BVA says "absolutely essential that significant changes are made to the pilot culls"

The British Veterinary Association has always made it clear that it could not support the roll out
of controlled shooting as a method to cull badgers if it was found to be inhumane or ineffective. In view of the findings of the IEP
report about problems of quick, clean and humane killing, the BVA evidently thinks it right
not to roll out the cull to new areas. However, as this extract from its
news release today makes clear:

"...we must also take a position that
will deliver the best possible outcomes for disease control and we know from evidence in
the Randomised Badger Culling Trial that if culling in the pilot areas is stopped now there is a significant
risk that this will lead to an increase in TB in cattle.
In reaching our position we have carefully weighed up both the scientific evidence and ethical arguments,
as well as considering the views of our individual members and specialist divisions....We also believe
that robust monitoring and collation of results, and independent analysis and auditing by a non-governmental body is imperative."

April 16th 2014 ~ An hypothesis; is SB0140 specifically
adapted to survive and thrive in badgers?

This extract is tsken from a blog called
Tackling TB and is from a short article
by Professor Ian Boyd, Defra Chief Scientist. Extract:

"....The emergence of the SB0140 clonal strain in the British Isles is a bit of a conundrum.
Could it be the result of selection caused by the kind of test we use to determine whether cattle have TB?
To test cattle for TB, we use a strain of TB (called AN5) that was gathered from an English cow in the 1940s.
While this test is still perfectly adept at picking up SB0140, we have found through our testing that the original strain,
AN5, has been successfully eliminated from English cows. It is interesting that while this strain has died out,
SB0140 has survived and flourished. This leads me to an intriguing hypothesis; is SB0140 specifically
adapted to survive and thrive in badgers?"

April 12th 2014 ~ The continuing need for clear scientific work on how bTB disease spreads

The
Glasgow research project (see below)
has been called "too little, too late" but until people can fully understand the epidemiology of the disease, it seems likely that effort is going to
continue to be wasted, bringing
yet more heartache to the farmers and their families who, at present, are bearing the brunt of this disease - both its devastating effects and its swingeing restrictions.
We are told that the disease has

"a long latent period, heterogenous spread, can infect many species
and can persist in the environment. Prev Vet Med. 2010 "Risk factors for herd breakdown with bovine tuberculosis in 148 cattle herds in the south west of England" Ramírez-Villaescusa et al

and that

"the prevalence of single reactors in herds suggests that within-herd transmission is not common."
Res Vet Sci. 2003 The transmission of Mycobacterium bovis infection to cattle.
Phillips CJ

If it is true that it is only in its late active stage in bovines
that bTB bacteria can be spread by coughing from infected lungs or by giving milk from infected udders,
then cows may well be thought unlikely to catch bTB from another cow.
The present regime of
testing aims to remove any cattle -
even in the earliest stage of the disease - that fail the skin test
and so, particularly where testing is annual, cow to cow transmission would seem actually to be very unlikely. But, unfortunately, spread can occur in other ways,
by persistent bacteria in the environment itself or by another infected mammal more infectious than cows themselves.
In a recent email from a very clued-up
farmer, we read:

"cattle to cattle transmission? In the field, very difficult, not common and quite unlikely.
Exception is herds not regularly tested, with a cow which has developed open lung lesions,
or udder lesions and milk fed to calves. Wild deer are still regarded as an overspill victim, in most instances.
They are under 'management' of numbers, anything with suspected TB has to be reported.
Not as infectious as badgers or alpacas, and transmission opportunities not as great as with badgers."

As always,
we are grateful for informed comment.

April 12th 2014 ~ "there is a real need to manage the expectations of the general public"

In its page dedicated to bovine TB, the British Veterinary Association (BVA)makes 15 points that show its position.
While fully accepting
that funding must go to filling the gaps in our knowledge of the epidemiology of the disease,
the last point made is that

"It is important to understand the current limitations of vaccination, in particular
its availability, practical application, true efficacy and legal status. In this context,
there is a real need to manage the expectations of the general public as to the potential role
of vaccination in bTB eradication."

While the general public - and evidently many MPs - think that effective
vaccination is already available to
stop this disease in its tracks, concerned bodies such as the BVA find it difficult to convince the vocal majority that
research into the best use of current diagnostic techniques and the development of new diagnostic techniques is probably
our best bet. And, as the BVA makes clear,

"Failure to tackle wildlife sources of infection has prolonged the presence of the disease in all affected species populations".

April 9th 2014 ~ "A light at the end of the tunnel? ... it looks horribly to me like the headlights of an onrushing train."

In his opinion
column in
the
Western Morning News today, Anthony Gibson expresses admiration for Princess Anne for the lift
"to agricultural morale provided by her robust, countrywoman's common-sense on badgers and bovine tuberculosis" but also muses
on a particularly bad week.Extract:

"..with the way the law is being interpreted by the courts and the fanatical determination of the badgerists to stop culling,
in whatever form, and no matter what the consequences for disease in badgers as well as cattle, that is a fatal flaw."

As usual,
Anthony Gibson
understands the other flaws, those inherent both in the culling trials and in vaccination - and understands too the deep depression that has settled on
many in farming:

"I know that very many farming families would never dream of doing anything which might conceivably
be seen as legally dubious, no matter how great their disillusionment and despair.
For them, the postponement (which may yet become a cancellation) of any further pilot culls snuffs out the last spark of hope."

April 9th 2014 ~ "She is prepared to speak out against
sentimentality and face the facts of life and death:
in saving the badger we are killing the hedgehog."

A
letter in today's WMN is also grateful to the Princess Royal. The writer
argues that overcrowding has led to severe problems as a result of the protected status
of badgers. "Cattle, bees, hedgehogs
and ground-nesting birds
are only some of those who suffer", writes Geoff Brown.

April 9th 2014~ The AHVLA trace, isolate and test for TB after a dispersal herd has positive test result.

Farming Today yesterday featured the AHVLA
( Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Association) who have worked quickly to trace,
isolate and test all the cattle from a dispersal
sale at a market in Cheshire earlier this year after some of the cattle sold were found to have tested positive for bTB. The herd had been thought to be entirely
TB free.
They were sold as part of the Cumbrian herd and were under the 4 year TB testing rules.
An investigation is taking place
on the farm of origin, farms in a three kilometre radius are being tested, and the AHVLA who have not yet discovered how any cows in the herd
became infected said that it was "not very likely,
but possible"
that spread could have occurred after the sale.
Radio 4 Farming Today (Begins at 7.06 mins.The BBC recording has limited availability) An emailer comments that this:

"shows how easy it is
for infection to be missed.
The Defra strategy - adopted on Thursday - has placed a significant part of England
as a Low Risk Area - LRA - which only has 4 yearly testing and no pre-movement testing."

The Livestock Auctioneers Association said they believe TB testing should be more frequent in all areas. Although worrying,
there is no evidence yet from the testing taking place to show disease having
spread from any of the cows involved. The
AHVLA spokesman called it a "very unusual case".
See also Farmers Guardian for April 4th.

April 7th 2014 ~ New research to determine the extent to which badgers are responsible for spreading tuberculosis in cattle.

The transmission pathways of bovine TB still remain poorly understood. Researchers in Glasgow led by Professor Rowland Kao at the Institute of Biodiversity,
Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, are now starting a £1000,000 study to establish
the extent to which badgers are responsible for spreading TB in cattle. It was
the Press Trust of India that told us:

"By using
a combination of DNA sequencing and mathematical modelling, researchers at the University of Glasgow
hope the results will inform effective and scientifically-guided policies for curbing bovine TB...the team ...
will study thousands of archived samples of bacteria that have been isolated from badgers and cattle over a period of 20 years.
They will read the entire DNA of M bovis..large-scale DNA study will provide unprecedented information:
it will reveal an accurate map of how the bacterium moves across the landscape,
providing a much deeper understanding of the mechanisms of this spread and
whether it is mainly cattle or badgers that are responsible."

There are many who are reluctant to accept
that badgers are responsible in any way for the spread of bTB. However, Professor Charles Godfray, University of Oxford,
recently published a restatement
of the natural science evidence base relevant to the control of bovine tuberculosis in Great Britain
"couched in terms that are as policy-neutral as possible" in which he clearly said that "Transmission from badgers to cattle is an important
cause of herd breakdowns in high-incidence areas." Cows with active disease can release the bacterium into the air
through coughing and sneezing where it can be inhaled by uninfected animals but many wonder about the number of cows able
to reach this active stage of the disease before being found and killed.
Badgers, as carriers of TB, are assumed to transmit the disease to cattle either by coming within close proximity to them or by indirect
contact when contaminating feed with urine, faeces, saliva. Definitive information about how the bacterium really does move between species would be very welcome.

"As for Wales, I am delighted that there
has been a reduction in the disease there.
According to the farmers in Wales to whom I have spoken,
it may be due to the spike that occurred when annual testing
was introduced recently. Given that the vaccination trial has only been taking
place for two years in 1.5% of the land in Wales, to attribute it to vaccination is laughable."

On the same subject, warmwell
is grateful to have received the following email and related
documents:

"Have been working on quite a lot of this material - and formed Animal Welfare Group
as a body to look at the correlation between testing intensity and disease incidence of bTB,
and other related matters. Submitted paper on this to DEFRA last November in response to consultation.
The following material, and attached briefing papers may be of interest.
These have been prepared with reference
to the DEFRA submission material. The Wales figures bear out what was observed looking back at the
data for the Area Eradication Strategy ie high testing intensity, combined with movement controls,
rigorous bio-security and risk based trading can substantially reduce the incidence of bTB."

Comments on this work would be received
with interest.

April 4th 2014 ~ "We are also stepping up investment in the development of improved diagnostic tests such as DNA-based technologies"

" I am keen to develop new techniques to support the strategy. Over this Parliament,
we are investing £24.6 million in the development of effective
TB vaccines for cattle and badgers. Our scientists are leading the world in the development
of a deployable cattle vaccine. In 2013, I agreed with the European Commissioner the work
that was needed to develop a viable cattle vaccine. We are designing the large-scale field trials
necessary to take this forward. I am committed to meeting the earliest deadline for its implementation,
but the need for the field trials and required legislative changes means that a usable cattle vaccine
is still many years away. In the future, an oral badger vaccine might address some of the problems of injectable
vaccine deployment and serve as a targeted control measure. Some progress has been made, but we do not yet
have an oral badger vaccine that is effective. We are also stepping up investment
in the development of improved diagnostic tests such as DNA-based technologies,
so that we can deploy a targeted approach to identify and remove TB-infected badgers only..."

April 4th 2014 ~ New Zealand: DIVA tests begin field trials

Assign-bTB, the new test,
will, it is hoped, reduce the
number of false positives to the skin test. Its developers maintain that it is a "unique tuberculosis skin test based
on the company's bionanoparticle technology". PolyBatics, say
the product is the first such test able to differentiate bTB-infected animals from those vaccinated against the disease.
It will be interesting to see how the New Zealand Assign-bTB compares with the AHVLA BCG (bacilli Calmette-Guérin) vaccine
and accompanying DIVA test due to be
field-trialled in England and Wales this year. The EU have said for some time that
because BCG can interfere with the tuberculin skin test and give "false positives", vaccination of cattle against TB is currently
prohibited by EU legislation.
The EU maintains that a cattle vaccine and DIVA test will not be commercially avaliable before 2023. More detail about
the NZ trial in
the PolyBatics news release.

While
accepting that an effective badger vaccine is still "years away", Mr Paterson has, in addition to announcing that there will be no badger culls beyond the present areas,
has today said that there will be a
scheme for badger vaccination projects around the edge of the most badly affected parts of the country to create a
"buffer zone". Present badger vaccines cannot cure infected badgers or stop them from spreading the disease. Vaccines are
expensive because in addition to the cost itself, badgers are not easy to trap and vaccinate. Present vaccines
need to be administered every year for 4 - 5 badger generations or around 20 years. However, for uninfected badgers in the vicinity of the hotspots, vaccination
will surely be considered a very useful addition to bTB controls.
Large-scale field trials of cattle vaccines are also in the process of being designed. DEFRA hopes to begin
the trials this year. They will last for two to five years and it is hoped they will provide
data for licensing the cattle vaccine and facilitate international acceptance of the accompanying diagnostic DIVA test
(to Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals) as a trade test. (See also
Alastair Driver's article from Sept 2013 in the Farmers Guardian.)

April 3rd 2014~ The Government has halted plans to expand badger culling in the South West.

The 4-year pilot culls already in operation in Somerset and Gloucestershire will continue, but badgers will
not be killed in any other area this year. Owen Paterson:

"Changes will be made in the second
year of the two pilots in light of the report, and they will be monitored
before ministers decide whether to extend the programme.
The four-year culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire are pilots and we always expected to learn lessons from them.
It is crucial we get this right. That is why we are taking a responsible approach,
accepting recommendations from experts to make the pilots better.
Doing nothing is not an option."

He said that the marksmen
carrying out the shooting had had to face a "disgraceful amount of intimidation from some of the more extreme protesters". The IEP report
itself made mention in several places of protests. For example:

"10.5.2. Incidents involving confrontation between cull operators
and protestors did have potential safety implications for both sides and in some cases necessitated a police response.
Contractors were not experienced in dealing with protestors who were better prepared to deal with the confrontation..."

April 3rd 2014~ "..Brussels stridently demanding action against the disease in return for the funds it has provided"

An opinion piece in yesterday's
Western Morning News by the agricultural journalist from Somerset, Chris Rundle, asks "will attitudes change as people and pets get TB?"
The tone is exasperated and weary
but it does make the serious point that British Veterinary Association president Robin Hargreaves has warned that because
of the high endemic incidence of bovine TB in wildlife more people are now going to catch TB from their cats. He is quoted:

"..The NHS routinely
use PCR to screen patients for m.bovis,
and a privately funded study using samples from dead alpacas -
[link] found that PCR was extremely accurate and very much in line
with the post mortem results of the animal concerned. Importantly,
there were no false positives....We are aware that in the alpaca project, (bovine TB)
had been confirmed by culture and /or postmortem and that samples obtained
from dead animals were carefully identified and protected from contamination.
How are any samples for badger sett PCR screens identified, and what is their source?
Is that source secure, unbiased and the samples 'uncontaminated'?"

An answer to that question would be of urgent interest.

March 31st 2014 ~ "more work is required to determine sensitivity and
specificity, and the practicalities of applying the test in the field."

Some of us helped to
fund the PCR
research for the recent alpaca study referred to above. As we say below, the PCR study in alpacas and llamas
had as its aim the detection of M bovis in faecal samples and nasal swabs.
A published article on this work can be found at alpacatb.org news
(Click on the PCR tab.) The paper is published in the
Irish Veterinary Journal 2014, 67:5 Extract from the pdf

" ...PCR testing to detect members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis
complex have been applied to clinical samples in other species [6-10]. They have been used on human blood, sputum and faeces
to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis[6,8,10]. They have been used to detect M. bovis in bovine blood, nasal mucous and milk
[7,9]. A PCR test has also been used to detect M. bovis in badger faeces and its use has been validated
by an inter-laboratory trial [11]
....
The results suggest that ante-mortem diagnosis of Mycobacterium bovis in
South American camelids may be
possible using a PCR test on clinical samples; however more work is required to determine sensitivity and
specificity, and the practicalities of applying the test in the field."

One wonders if Mr Paterson is aware of the
promising results of this privately funded
work on SAC and
its need for further funding and, if so, whether he would be prepared to give the assurance that Mr Williams was hoping for in his
Parliamentary Question on Friday so that PCR testing in the field for all species may become a reality.

March 27th 2014 ~ Human cases of bTB from infected cats

A public health warning was issued today by Public Health England
describing how four human cases appeared to come from domestic cats
infected with bovine tuberculosis. Molecular analysis
at AHVLA showed that M. bovis isolated from the infected cats
and the human cases with active TB infection were indistinguishable.
In two of the four human cases the tuberculosis infections are active and
they are being treated.
Public Health England has advised that anyone coming into contact with infected cats should seek medical advice. Professor Noel Smith, Head of the Bovine
TB Genotyping Group at AHVLA, is quoted by the Farmers Guardian
He said that the cats had the same strain of the disease as nearby cattle.
"However, direct contact of the cats with these cattle was unlikely considering their
roaming ranges. The most likely source of infection is infected wildlife,
but cat-to-cat transmission cannot be ruled out." Last October (see below) when it was reported that at the Welsh Gelli Aur college dairy farm
in Carmarthenshire 400 cattle had been slaughtered in the past few years "and its farm cat
died of TB" a vet correspondent noted the danger of infected farm cats spreading disease and wondered
"how many have been tested for bTB (X-rayed)ever?"

March 26th 2014 ~ bTB in roaming wild deer. "Recent and ongoing evidence suggests that there may be a few "hotspot" areas
in lowland England where significant levels of TB are found in wild deer"

Deer tend not to be much thought
of in the public mind in connection with the spread of bovine TB but the British Deer Society is particularly concerned by evidence of

"significant levels of TB infection
in deer in the Hereford/Gloucester areas and in south east Exmoor. Both are areas where high cattle TB breakdown rates occur...
The British Deer
Society has evidence that in south east Exmoor the level of TB infection in red deer may be as high as 50% in some limited localities."

(Last year I observed deer passing across farmland in Gloucestershire when I was being shown TB free badger setts within the farm. The
farmer was anxious to protect these ancient setts
while at the same time being worried by roaming badgers whose presence was all too evident in the area outside the farm - and worried too by the presence of these deer.)
There is much of interest and concern in the notes that may be read at
southwest-tbadvice.co.uk

"... in the UK herds of red, fallow and sika frequently have a close association with farmed livestock, grazing
the same pasture and subsisting on the same crop fodders. There is very close contact between wild deer and cattle
in large areas of lowland Britain... the most frequent reports and serious foci of infection
have occurred in red, fallow and sika. ..
Deer to deer transmission of TB has been shown to occur by both the respiratory and alimentary routes.." Read in full

Apparently, there has been no investigation to date of deer to cattle or badger to deer infection.
We read that "under the current Orders DEFRA has no power to investigate the possibility of infection
in wild deer, even if TB positive carcasses are reported and investigated.
There are no enforceable means by which Defra
can assess the level of TB infection in a given wild population, once the presence of TB has been confirmed from post mortem submissions."
Informed emailed comment about this situation would be welcome.

March 19th 2014 ~ "It distresses the animals and the vets hate it because it means giving farmers news
that could collapse their business."

Quoting "Whitehall sources" the Sunday Times says an announcement is
expected this week, alongside the publication of the long-awaited report from the independent expert panel assessing the pilots,
that the badger cull is likely to be extended to Dorset.
More than 200 farmers have already signed up to take part there. Dorset NFU county chairman Paul Gould is quoted
in the Western
Daily Press

"There continues to be a high expression of interest from Dorset farmers,
and across the country, of culling badgers. My own herd are being TB tested in three weeks'
time and it is so stressful. It distresses the animals and the vets hate it because it means giving farmers news
that could collapse their business."

Accurate badger
numbers are not known and so Mr Gould questioned the view that the pilot culls had failed to reach their
target "percentages". He added that there is not yet a workable vaccine.

Professor Graham Ball and his team at Nottingham Trent University are getting closer to inventing a rapid diagnostic test for bTB.
He is quoted in by Alastair Driver the Farmers Guardian today and earlier this week on the
Nottingham Trent University website

"The current process for testing cattle is slow and expensive,
but this technology would allow us to address each of those problems.
.."

The three year study, being co-funded by the
Technology Strategy Board, involves identifying
molecules
in the blood which indicate the presence of bovine TB.
Its designers claim that the device will be able to
provide a rapid, accurate diagnosis,
and would be far more cost effective than the present skin test - and with no costly repeat testing.
It would involve a single visit from a vet. The device will be about the size of a smart phone.
There is no indication of how soon the team thinks such a device will be available.

March 19th 2014 ~ DEFRA listens to concerns from Commoners

DEFRA has agreed to allow exemptions
to new pre-movement testing rules affecting movements to and from common land, due to come into force in England this summer.
Under the original
DEFRA proposals, all animal owners would have had to get their cows
tested by vets every time they were moved on or off the open forest.
The New Forest, for example, is home to 3,500 cows owned by a total of 140 Commoners and such regulations would have been very difficult and dangerous.
As the NFU's vice-president Adam Quinney recently said, pre-movement testing before moving
cattle back to a farm from common land can be dangerous
or impossible in many cases because of the lack of available cattle handling facilities.
The Farmers Guardian today
reports that

"...from June 30, all cattle aged over 42
days moving to and from common land in the annual testing area
must be pre-movement tested as the 'default' option.However, for movements back from the common,
farmers will be allowed to carry out a post-movement test instead to 'reflect the fact that in most cases,
TB testing on common land is impractical and dangerous'..."

March 15th 2014 ~ "We need a serious discussion
with the European Union..."

Few would imagine that the MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman,
would ever agree with Bill Wiggin's
words about the European Union. Mr Wiggin said:

"....
there is no reason why pasteurised milk and vet-inspected meat should not be available for export from vaccinated cattle. I think the House may find that it already is.
After the pathetic European response to the horsemeat scandal, I do not believe that the European Union has a strong case
to ban our exports. The response from the European Commission is unhelpful and is another reason why, if for no other,
we should leave the EU. I hope the Secretary of State
will join me in campaigning to leave the European Union
and one of the benefits will be that we can vaccinate our cattle."

"..I have come to the conclusion that the evidence shows that bovine TB is a calamity.
I have many farming friends who are desperate because friends of theirs have had it on their farms. It
drives farmers to desperation and in some tragic cases to suicide when they get bovine TB and
lose a cherished herd that they have bred... We need a serious discussion
with the European Union, and among ourselves, on how we evaluate the evidence
and get this dreadful disease sorted. That is what farmers and lovers of wildlife want
and what every Member of this House should want."

(Unfortunately, even for a disease such
as foot and mouth where excellent vaccines exist and are evolving every year since there are many parts of the world where they are used, the EU and the rest of the
English speaking world prefer - for the sake of the outdated export rules to which Mr Wiggin refers - to kill herds rather
than protect them. When the
European Union finally gets to grips with the benefits of vaccination and DIVA tests, (and behind the scenes
informal persuasion is quietly taking place), it is surely likely that serious funding will kickstart
the pharmaceutical companies into working towards more effective bTB vaccines.)

March 15th 2014 ~ Daniel Kawczynski: "the constant emotional, psychological impact
that it had on him and also on the many children."

The Western Daily Press quotes Mr Kawczynski who spoke before the debate on Wednesday:
Mr Kawczynski told the Commons:

"One of the most emotional experiences I have faced
was meeting with a dairy farmer in the village of Snailbeach in the southernmost part of my constituency.
I went to see him and spend the day on his farm and saw at first hand the terrible suffering
that he had been through with all his cattle being taken away.
We sat at his kitchen table afterwards and over tea he started to cry, and I joined in.
It was such an emotional experience
seeing a grown man cry and seeing the constant emotional, psychological impact
that it had on him and also on the many children."

Read full WDP article It was Daniel Kawczynski who set up the all-party parliamentary group (APPG)
for dairy farmers.
He told the paper how he had taken recommendations from the APPG to David Miliband when he had been DEFRA Minister and described Mr Miliband's
response as
"completely derisory".

March 13th 2014 ~ MP Anne Main's EDM motion urging Government to 'pause, reflect and adapt its policy for tackling Bovine TB'
was carried by 219 to 1 today. Only its supporters voted.

The debate took place before the publication of the IEP report.
We understand that Government Whips advised their MPs not to vote. As Simon Hart said

"It's with a heavy heart that I won't vote...
we can't vote on just a snippet of a leaked report"

George Eustice pointed out

"We are making 'some progress' with developing oral badger vaccine but there are drawbacks. It will never be 100% effective."

Firmly fixed opinions
were aired on an issue where a genuine understanding of the disease and what can genuinely be done to fight it
is of paramount importance for farmers, cattle and wildlife.
There will be a Hansard link here as soon as possible. See
debate in its entirety as a pdf file here.

March 7th 2014 ~ "Previous work has found multiple bTB strains within setts,
and some strains being different to those of the local cattle population.."

A new study, published in
the Journal of Animal Ecology this month describes a bTB-associated study of long distance
movements of badgers in north-western Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. The research team was led by
Andrew W. Byrne of the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin. Extract:

"Our
data have implications for disease transmission, as long-distance
movement made by individuals could result in the transmission
of disease across landscapes. For example, dispersing badgers
can accumulate more bite wounds (Macdonald et al. 2008) than badgers that stay
within their social group, and this is a risk factor for
bTB (Murphy et al. 2010). Previous work has found multiple bTB strains within setts,
and some strains being different to those of the local cattle population
(Olea-Popelka et al. 2005; Woodroffe et al. 2005b; Kelly, McGrath & More 2010)
with strains geographically clustering at large scales
(>6 km in Ireland; Olea-Popelka et al. 2005; Kelly, McGrath & More 2010).
This led to speculation that long-distance badger movements could have been involved
in the spatial spread of bTB strains across landscapes..."
Read in full

The research suggests that field-trials for vaccination or culling need to be aware that "in the absence of physical
movement barriers,
buffers of >7·3 km may be needed
to restrict inward dispersal and maintain site independence with a high degree of confidence."

March 5th 2014 ~ Backbench debate will take place on March 13th

St Albans MP Anne Main who says she has "great sympathy for farmers on this difficult issue"
has obtained cross party support for her EDM. See Farmers Guardian "....Opponents of the policy
will ask the Government to 'pause, reflect and adapt its policy for tackling Bovine TB'
in the wake of what they claim is the failure of the autumn pilots to show culling can be effective.
.." Read in full

February 27th 2014 ~ Theresa May hears about TB testing as she visits farmers in her constituency

The visit by the Home Secretary is reported by
Farmers Weekly. Berkshire farmer Colin Rayner is quoted:

"Ms May is one of only a handful of Cabinet ministers to witness a TB test
We were telling her how unreliable the tests were and how you can have reactors even when you don't have TB.
If you test cattle, you are likely to have three reactors, even if they have not got TB.
We also explained the cost to the industry, the number of TB tests carried out in Berkshire
last year and the stress it causes to cattle going through the crush.
And we explained that a number of farmers and vets had been killed during
the past few years carrying out the tests and how a lot of animals had died unnecessarily."

February 26th 2014 ~ ".. the misinformation and misunderstanding in the debate about bovine TB"

The British Veterinary Association have
pointed to the very unfortunate lack of understanding in the public mind about bovine TB and deplores the fact that "Some in
the media are painting a picture in which policymakers have a straight choice between vaccinating badgers
and culling them. That picture is false. And it is damaging." An exemplary exception in the media
is the WMN ,
In a tone almost of despair, the paper says:

"...The Western Morning News has consistently argued that bovine TB cannot be eradicated without tackling it in the wild and that a cull of badgers seems, unfortunately, to be a necessary part of that fight. But it is for the Government and those who represent the livestock farmers, still suffering desperately with
this appalling disease, who need to make the case.
In recent weeks they have been failing to do that ..."

In his speech at the BVA's annual London dinner, the vet and Association President, Roger Hargreaves
, accepting that badger culling is a highly emotive public concern, mentioned the frustration felt by many that
the long wait for the Independent Expert Panel's report has allowed misinformation to fill the void.

"
Badger vaccination clearly has a role to play
in the eradication of bovine TB, and we were pleased to see it included in the government's TB strategy,
but there is no evidence to suggest that it is currently a viable alternative to culling in the fight against the disease in
cattle in the endemic areas.
And it is wrong to suggest that any of the measures we need to tackle bovine TB can be successful in isolation."

Bovine TB
costs the taxpayer millions of pounds a year as Mr Hargreaves reminded us - but this may mean less to the public than the furious words of high profile
voices in the media and in formerly respected bodies such as the RSPCA. The Media must surely take notice of
the veterinary perspective to this issue - one that is firmly based in understanding of the disease. It was not taken lightly
and its importance can hardly be overstated.

February 19th 2014 ~ The RSPCA is calling on the public to oppose future badger culls

Badger culls will only ever be carried out in areas where bTB is a major problem but the RSPCA is urging the public
to oppose future culls.
"We urge you to push for cull plans
to be dropped" says the
RSPCA News page and quotes the head of public affairs and campaigns, David Bowles, who refers to "misguided plans"
and claims that "science has shown the cull is not the answer"
He maintains that the pilot culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire last
year were "a catalogue of errors from start to finish." It is distressing to see this attempt to further harden the gap of sympathy
between those
whose livelihoods are at risk along with their herds and the essentially kind hearted members of the public. They, led by the RSPCA and others,
remain unconvinced that the disease cannot be reduced
unless it is also tackled in the wildlife population.
While vaccines are in their infancy and not thought effective against this complicated bacterium, and
- for cattle - banned anyway by the EU, it is sadly essential to try to
limit spread in the bTB hotspots. Andy Robertson, NFU director general,
putting the other side of the argument, is quoted by the
Western Morning News:

"TB is devastating farming family businesses
across large parts of the country and it is vital it is controlled and eradicated.Controlling the spread of disease
in wildlife is an absolutely
essential part of this and we know farmers in many areas will be
keen to see this process rolled out in parts of the country where TB is endemic
and where there is a clear reservoir of disease in badgers."

As we have said below, Owen Paterson is waiting for the findings of the pilot areas before any future culls are decided upon. One may be forgiven for wondering why a charity such as the RSPCA
seems to have no sympathy or understanding for the huge numbers of suffering animals and farmers desperate to find a solution to this increasingly
heartbreaking disease.

February 17th 2014 ~ "the excuse will no longer be valid..."

See Thursday's short
parliamentary debate on bTB here. Bill Wiggin followed up his question about government policy on cattle vaccination
with the following:

"In 2017, I hope that the Secretary of State
and I will be campaigning to leave the European Union.
When we succeed, the excuse that it is the EU that is preventing
us from vaccinating our cattle will no longer be valid.
Will he ensure that his Department is ready to vaccinate cattle when we leave?"

Research, led by Professor Liz Glass at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, has compared
the genetic code of TB-infected animals with that of healthy cattle.
The study suggests that some cattle might be more resistant to bovine TB as a result of their genetic make-up.
The Herald
quotes Professor Glass:

"If we can choose animals with better genotypes for TB resistance,
then we can apply this information in new breeding programmes alongside other control strategies.It is hoped
that can help us to more effectively control TB in cattle."

(As we have said below, it seems very unfortunate
if naturally resistant cattle who have met the bacterium are reacting positively to the skin test. If so, naturally bTB resistant cattle
will be among those being culled and thus not able to pass on resistance to offspring. Comments on this would be very welcome.)Comment received

Re. "Roslin Institute finds "genetic signatures" associated with TB resistance"
This is just a red herring thrown up by some researchers in the hope that some politician looking for popularity
among the badger hugging fraternity will toss them some more finance. It's rubbish.
The skin test as you say does rely on the subject's natural resistance to give results.
Even if we start breeding resistant cattle today, it will be many decades before the resistant genes
can be spread among the entire cattle population. Prior to the 1930's natural selection didn't seem to be very effective
in reducing the incidence of cattle TB. It doesn't seem to be very effective in the badger population currently.
Then what about camelids, pigs, sheep, deer? Eradication is the only sensible, practical answer."

(Many thanks to the farmer
who kindly supplied his name & address.) UPDATE Feb 28th Email from Sheilagh Kremers.

"I would just like to comment
on the statement in brackets about
resistance in our cattle. I said exactly this when my calf was under
threat in Newton Abbot, Devon. A cyst was eventually found in his neck,
totally encysted and covered. I said the test is showing up the cattle
who are fighting the contact and would then become immune. We are
killing our strongest animals. I would also like to make the comment
`where is the vaccine for the cattle?` I was told by a scientist at
Weybridge 9 years ago that this would take another 5 or so years to be
ready. There is never a mention of this in all the years. Yet we still
bring our cattle in for testing in the barns every year. It would be so
easy to vaccinate them for life. They have passports, so it can be put
in these. Most of us never export anyway. I hear there was mention
that the farmers would be expected to pay for the tb test to cut costs
for defra. This is a test which the government make compulsory. Would
this be legal? It would certainly put even more farmers out of
business, certainly me. Since the badger cull will always be a
questionable procedure, and who wants the healthy ones killed, surely
this is the way forward. We have made no difference in the last ten
years and now we have no money. "

February 11th 2014 ~ Ireland

In Ireland, we read at
FWi, Bovine TB in cattle has fallen to "historically low levels" after almost 25 years of culling badgers

"The Irish Department
of Agriculture believes that for the first time since the 1950s,
eradication of the disease is a "practicable proposition"....reactive badger control strategy is used, which involves removing
badgers in areas surrounding new TB herd breakdowns."

About 6,000 badgers are culled by trained government staff each year and removed for postmortem examinations. Carcasses are
rendered in a licensed knackery.
Last year, the cost of the badger removal programme was €3,062m (£2.59m).
Read in full

February 10th 2014 ~ Good news on the PCR alpaca research project - ante-mortem diagnosis using PCR "may be possible"

Many of us contributed towards the funding of a PCR study in alpacas and llamas
whose aim was to detect M bovis in faecal samples/nasal swabs. Warmwell heard from Dianne Summers today that
a full published article on this work is now at alpacatb.org news
(Click on the PCR tab.) The paper is published in the Irish Veterinary Journal 2014, 67:5 Extract from the pdf

"
The results suggest that ante-mortem diagnosis of Mycobacterium bovis in South American camelids may be
possible using a PCR test on clinical samples; however more work is required to determine sensitivity and
specificity, and the practicalities of applying the test in the field."

As Dianne says, "The results are better than any of us had expected...
(the study) has been peer reviewed and because of this we can now move onto validation
in the hope to bring PCR as a test we can all use."

February 6th 2014 ~ "...unless tough new action is taken to combat the disease"

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what figures
make up the £1 billion figure referred to on 10 October 2013, Official Report,
column 281, regarding the cost of bovine TB to the UK over the next 10 years. [185682]
George Eustice: Forecast expenditure on our bovine TB programme for the current financial year
is just over £99 million, excluding DEFRA policy development costs.
That is after taking account of EU funding of around £12 million,
which is as yet not guaranteed. Of this, £66 million is for operational,
policy and laboratory work carried out by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency,
including payments to private vets for TB testing. A further £23.5 million is for cattle compensation costs,
net of salvage income. It is reasonable to expect that we will continue to incur similar,
possibly greater, costs in future years unless tough new action is taken to combat the disease.

January 31st 2014 ~ New national TB fund to be established in England

See Farmers Guardian today:

"....Alongside the new fund, which is likely to be voluntary for cattle farmers, the Department is keen
to establish a new independent body to take over responsibility for much of the administration of TB policy,
including badger culling.The idea of a separate TB body with responsibility
for a budget paid into by farmers, based on the system in place in New Zealand,
was presented in Defra's 25-year draft TB strategy document, published in July."

January 29th 2014 ~ Defra is planning to publish
a summary of responses ..

..to the so-called "Citizen Dialogue" - a strategy for achieving officially
bovine TB-Free Status for England which (see
Farming UK)
included "stakeholder workshops, public workshops, and public online engagement."
The project extended beyond the consultation period
and its final report is expected early this year. The proposed strategy includes the development of vaccines for both badgers and
cattle, and new diagnostic tests.

January 23rd 2014 ~ "Potentially this will kill the livestock industry"

The
North Devon Journal quotes a chaplain who works with farmers
and he is increasingly concerned at the human cost of bTB. The market chaplain and rural support worker, Andy Jerrard, says

"I've been in meetings and at the orange market where people are relatively calm and measured but,
nearly always, at some point, they explode because the emotional pressure is so high, and it's suddenly uncorked.
One young man who keeps cattle said it's like taking your A levels every 60 days and waiting for the results each time.
How they manage their business depends on the test. Potentially this will kill the livestock industry."

As he says, the disease has a slow and miserable effect
even when tests are clear. Farmers' cash flow
is eaten away and there is an ever greater burden of paper work to avoid legal action. Nigel Short, joint director of Pickards agricultural merchants says

"And if you get the paperwork
wrong you get treated like a criminal"

Another Devon farmer quoted, Geoffrey Brown,
reminds us that the cattle themselves are "becoming so much more stressed" too. Insurance agent Mike Smale told the paper
that farmers are paying the price
for the protection of badgers:
"What about the thousands and thousands of cattle that are killed?"
Owen Paterson, who had hoped soon to be able to announce his decision on whether badger culling would be extended to up to 10 new areas,
stressed he will be guided by lessons learned from the pilots. The report of independent
expert panel
set up to monitor last year's culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset, was expected to be published at the beginning of 2014.
It has not yet appeared.
(See FG)

January 20th 2014 ~ New Forest Verderers are urging DEFRA to introduce a licensing system instead of
proposed tests for every movement into and out of the forest - which many cows there make daily

The Southern Daily Echo explains today how the face of the New Forest could be utterly changed
by halting the movement of cattle since, under DEFRA's new anti bTB proposals, animal owners would have to get their cows
tested by vets every time they are moved on or off the open forest. It could force Commoners to abandon their ancient way of life because in some cases the tests would need to be carried out every day.
The New Forest is home to 3,500 cows owned by a total of 140 Commoners.
As we report below, the NFU's vice-president, Adam Quinney, recently said that pre-movement testing before moving
cattle back to a farm from common land can be "dangerous
or impossible in many cases because of the lack of available cattle handling facilities" adding that there must also be a
clear appeals process for farmers who are penalised for delays to their tests that are not their fault.

January 18th 2014 ~ the computer error ... makes little difference to the urgency with which bovine TB must be tackled

Western Daily Press comment
:"...Playing party politics over the badger cull and seizing, almost gleefully, on a discrepancy in the figures won't help to eradicate bovine TB and doesn't help diseased badgers, sick cattle or the farming families living through this nightmare.
Labour needs to grow up and take a more measured approach to this crisis."
Read in full

The MP for Garston and Halewood in Merseyside, Maria Eagle: "I'm not one of those people who says that no badgers should ever
be culled. There's a hugely serious issue with TB in cattle
that does have to be tackled. Thousands of cattle are being destroyed at a great cost."
Read article on the "This is Cornwall" website. Update Jan 15th. An email just received from farmer John Tuck in Wiltshire
expresses what many will be feeling:

"Re your latest link on Warmwell. com bovine TB pages
I read at /www.publications.
parliament.uk"On 23 July 1996 Douglas Hogg MP, then Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, responded to growing concern over Government policy
on bovine tuberculosis by announcing an independent scientific review under the chairmanship of Professor John Krebs"
Now according to the link on your website Angela Eagle is reported as saying

"When we were in office we ordered
a science-based culling trials that formed the basis of the evidence that there is for policy-making in this area".

Only a few weeks ago Mary Creagh (Shadow DEFRA secretary) made a similar claim in the Western Daily Press.
This seems to me to be a dishonest attempt to make animal health a party political football and should be stamped on."

It is interesting to see comment about the recommendation protocols offered in 1997 by Professor, Sir John Krebs on
this page of the BovineTB Blogspot

"..... unfortunately by not following Professor Kreb's protocol with regard to implementation of the trial, the trial operators achieved
exactly the results that Krebs described as 'unlikely to be effective' during the interim strategy in his report of 1997."

The page outlines the original recommendation protocols
and Professor Krebs' concern at the way 'his' trial was being carried out. It seems to us to be essential reading for anyone
seriously involved in the present dreadful situation. The years have gone by and, as the Blog observed in 2007,"One would assume
from that critique that all these failures of the interim strategy and recommendations for the efficacy of a new ££multi million
trial would be taken note of by the operators of the RBCT. But in that assumption, one would be quite wrong..." Read in full

January 5th 2014 ~ TB from Alpacas: Dianne Summers is "on the road to recovery"

As we have mentioned several times on this website, Dianne Summers fell seriously ill in April 2012.
The strain of bTB making her so ill was her own herd's unique spoligotype
showing, since she had not handled any other alpacas with the same strain, that she caught the disease from
her own affected alpacas.We note with relief from a
BBC Cornwall report today that
Dianne Summers feels that she is

".....on the road to recovery after having
to take a "very serious cocktail of drugs".
And she said she would continue her campaign."

Human treatment for the disease involves a variety of drugs with some unpleasant side effects and, as Mrs Summers' own long and difficult illness shows,
treatment is very nasty and by no means a quick fix. Once again we are reminded that TB m.bovis is not just a disease of farmers' cows. TB is a Zoonotic disease
- i.e. it can be passed on to people as well as to other species. Mrs Summers has been campaigning for several years about TB in alpacas
and is worried for other alpaca owners: The BBC quotes her today:

"The government is proposing voluntary testing,
and I myself can't see how you can control disease on a voluntary basis."

The Farmers Guardian reports that according to agricultural lawyer David Kirwan, a total of 6,650
out of 21,398 tests were overdue in 2012, suggesting the change of policy could have serious implications for farmers. Mr Kirwan is quoted:

"This is the latest in a seemingly relentless series of punitive administrative and financially swingeing measures on farming families.
Farmers need practical support not a bullying, stick-wielding master hell bent on inflicting more misery and hardship.
It is an already over-regulated industry.
This will make financial conditions even more difficult, prompting some farmers
to quit beef and dairy production.."

December 22nd 2013 ~ "zoonotic Tuberculosis is not a merely 'bovine' problem any more is it?"

Thanks to the latest posts on www.bovinetb.blogspot we learn that following
George Eustace's visit to the farm of that brave and now sadly TB infected campaigner,
Dianne Summers,
the government's reporting on the impact of TB in other species is now undertaken with more exactness:

"...
we see the original 'low' figure of 17 positive samples taken from South American camelids (alpacas and llamas) in 2012 and behind which AHVLA was crouching, was hiding
almost 600 animals slaughtered on the altar of 'bovine' tuberculosis. A significant order of magnitude.
Also jumping out of this chart is the number of new TB breakdowns in sheep and pig herds in 2012,
with 6,189 ante mortem tests performed on sheep. Premises with 'other species' under restriction due to confirmed 'bovine' tuberculosis
at the end of the year were into double figures for pigs and camelids."
read in full

As Matthew's blog points out, in previous years
the way AHVLA presented their 'other species' zTB statistics tables consisted of "the often single, microbial sample
which confirmed m.bovis and only that. They did not include any previous or subsequent deaths either
from 'bovine' tuberculosis, or slaughter of these animals in a government generated eradication process for this
zoonotic disease."It may be harder from now on for
people to assume this is a disease that can be left to the suffering of cows and farmers. Other species are increasingly at risk - and that includes people.

December 19th 2013 ~ "This work will help to clarify the role that badgers may have in spreading the disease ...."

Researchers from the University of Glasgow in collaboration with the Agri-Food
and Biosciences Institute and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland have
sequenced the genomes of 147 M. bovis samples, collected over a decade of outbreaks
in Northern Ireland. A combination of the genomic sequences of the bacteria with information about
when and where the sample was isolated, in addition to data on the movement of cattle from farm to farm, has enabled
researchers to build a detailed forensic map of bovine TB spread. Results confirm that

"...while long distance spread
via cattle movements plays a role, local transmission mechanisms appear to drive the spread of the disease...This work
will help to clarify the role that badgers may have in spreading the disease.."

Professor Rowland Kao is quoted
at YottaFire
"Our results suggests that the establishment and local persistence
of the pathogen in cattle has a distinct spatial signature -
we believe that explaining this signature is the key to quantifying the role that badgers play in the persistence of
bovine TB in Britain and Ireland......Given the extensive collection of samples already collected
from cattle and badgers, we are optimistic that this approach will help accumulating the right
scientific evidence over the coming years to tackle this important problem."
Read in full

Many MPs had strong opinions.
Not all MPs had the first idea what they were talking about.
Chris Williamson at one point implied that the British Veterinary Association were a group of "pseudo-scientists". (The BVA
President said in the
Telegraph that while, of course, effective vaccines would be the best answer, the
injectable badger vaccine does not work on already-infected badgers while vaccine to put in baited food for badgers does not
yet exist, nor is there any existing bovine vaccine.
This leaves Britain
no choice but to cull says the BVA.
Last month, they agreed with
the Chief Veterinary Officer's advice "that extensions in order to remove a greater number of badgers
and get closer to achieving the 70% rate of the Randomised Badger Culling Trials
(RBCTs) are justified to improve the bovine TB disease situation and mitigate the potential impact of badger perturbation.")
Michael Fabricant pointed out to those present that

"There is also the misery of other sentient beings - cattle.
Some 35,000 cattle are destroyed every year, more than half of which are dairy cows.
I do not know whether the solution should be culling badgers, but we do need a solution."

"....while the cull has been an undoubted PR disaster it may not have been the catastrophe for controlling
the disease some have almost gleefully suggested.
Analysing the data, considering new ways of controlling badgers, to include more cage trapping,
vaccination and maybe even gassing, where appropriate, could make the difference.
What must not happen, despite the wobble shown by some MPs,
is a full scale retreat on tackling this disease, both on the farm and in the wild."

One of the best contributions was from Sir John Randall who has been a keen wildlife conservationist all his life:
".. the debate is not about whether badgers are great creatures; it is about a terrible disease that is causing misery
for many farmers and that is affecting their livelihoods and communities."

December 10th 2013 ~ Concern about the role of badgers in the spread of bTB in South West France

Prayssas is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France. Previously thought free of the disease for the past decade,
three farms in the area
have recently been entirely culled out as a reslt of TB - and there is growing concern about the threat of the disease.
An article in
Le Sud Ouest yesterday (warmwell translation from the French)

"...The recent discovery of a badger's body on the roadside, near Prayssas, changes the situation a little. After tests, badgers
have been shown to be carriers of the bacterium."

The veterinary services in Prayssas are reacting swiftly and have arrnaged a meeting on December 19th
for Farmers' associations, the departmental Hunt Federation, veterinarians, the GDS, trappers and so on. The badger is "in the sights"
of the
experts who are aware of the behaviour of the omniverous animal roaming around farms, sometimes having direct contact
with animals in their stalls and on the lookout for places where there is stored fodder.

November 28th 2013 ~ "significant additional burdens on some farmers"

"the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency will provide
the Rural Payments Agency with details of all farmers
who have not arranged TB tests to be carried out by the due date.
Those who are late, 'even by one day', will face cross compliance penalties,
the size of which will depend on the severity of the case."

(While timely TB tests are a necessary burden in the fight
against bTB,
it will be remembered that the RPA itself has hardly
been a model of time-keeping in recent years. As the NAO politely put it last year: "The agency continues to experience considerable difficulties
in quantifying the value of overpayments and underpayments made to farmers under the scheme") The NFU's vice-president, Adam Quinney, is quoted
as saying that pre-movement testing before moving cattle back to a farm from common land can be "dangerous
or impossible in many cases because of the lack of available cattle handling facilities" and that
it was therefore vital farmers had the option of a post-movement test as an alternative that there must also be a
clear appeals process for farmers who are penalised for delays to their tests that are not their fault.

"If a farmer arranges a test on time
and it is delayed by the AHVLA it is crucial
that the farmer is not held responsible for the delay and penalised unfairly"

November 27th 2013 ~ Monty Don has now left Twitter after "falling victim to a hate campaign"

The Week reports that Monty Don has told his 30,000 followers that he has left Twitter after enduring
"five days of hell" as those who disliked the fact that he would not condemn badger culling outright fired a salvo of hostile tweets
in his direction. (see post below for November 22nd)

November 23rd 2013 ~ "We are keen to learn from others' experiences on badger vaccination" Yesterday's PQs and answers:
Hansard

There were questions from Caroline Lucas, David Morris and Huw Irranca-Davies. George Eustace said that the cost of
vaccinating individual badgers

"is susceptible to a range of local variables including topography, weather conditions
and the number of badgers in the designated area.. We have estimated the average cost of vaccinating badgers by area,
the figures for which can be found in the impact assessment..."

David Morris wondered how much it would cost to
"vaccinate all the badgers in England" - almost as if he thought that vaccinating badgers was as simple as asking the entire badger
population to report to thousands of traps throughout the country. If only badger vaccination were as effective and simple as that.
Mr Eustace's answer: "There is no current estimate of the cost of vaccinating all badgers in England." (The impact assessment referred
to by Mr Eustace is
"Measures to address bovine TB in badgers" ) dated 30th November 2011

November 22nd 2013 ~ Monty Don on Twitter: "A pity that such beautiful and fascinating animals as Badgers evoke such extreme, blinkered views."

Farmers Weekly reported yesterday that TV presenter and farmer, Monty Don, has been drawn in to the badger cull debate.

"....Anti-cull activists contacted Mr Don on his Twitter account and asked him to join and speak at a protest march against the cull later this month in Bristol.
However, in reply, Mr Don, who is best known for presenting the BBC's Gardeners' World, said:
"Not sure whether the cull is in principle a bad thing. Probably ineffective but not necessarily wrong as a trial."
A second activist followed up his comments with a tweet that branded the cull as a "political decision" and, many believed that "our wildlife deserves better treatement [sic]".
In reply, Mr Don tweeted: "No, it is an attempt to control TB. We cull many animals - don't know why badgers get special treatment."

The sole and sensible comment under this article was by
the FWi blog administrator, who wrote: "We will not be accepting comments on this article."
Today, Mr Don tweeted: "A pity that such beautiful and fascinating animals as Badgers evoke such extreme, blinkered views. Does nothing to solve difficult problem."

November 15th 2013 ~ Ireland: TB infection levels down by >45% since 2000

Ireland is slaughtering less than half the cattle they needed to 10 years ago. An article in yesterday's Guardian by farming Minister, George Eustace

"..
I am not prepared to sit back and watch it continue to have such a dreadful impact. More than 300,000 cattle have been needlessly slaughtered as a result of bovine TB in the past 10 years..."

Mr Eustace explains that the badger culling in Ireland has made a formidable impact. As for the UK trial culling in Gloucestershire and Somerset:

".. Nobody wants to kill badgers, but there is no other proven way to quickly and effectively reduce disease in TB hotspots....
Along with other measures such as tighter cattle movement controls, better bio-security on farms, and the development of
workable badger and cattle vaccines, culling forms a key part of our strategy to eradicate this terrible disease.
My department is working tirelessly with the farming industry, scientists and vets to tackle this disease. Together
we can achieve healthy cattle and healthy wildlife, and ensure the British cattle industry has a future."

As usual, anyone who makes such claims
can expect no change of view from those whose minds are made up. The comments below the article are unfailingly angry, dismissive, or downright vitriolic. Read
Guardian article

November 13th 2013 ~Durham: "a failure in the pre-movement testing regime, rather than any wrongdoing by the farmer."

See Farmers Guardian which quotes NFU North East livestock chairman Hans Porksen

"There are a lot of rumours flying around
... but the person
who has had the outbreak has done nothing wrong whatsoever.
There weren't any illegal movements at all. It is all absolute rubbish.
This will always happen because the pre-movement test is only 85 per cent accurate.
So you are going to get some animals incubating TB that don't show in the test that go on to
be reactors after they are moved to another premise."

November 9th 2013 ~ Bad news from County Durham

Several cattle on a farm in the Haswell area of east Durham have tested positive and have been slaughtered. Tests are being
carried out on surrounding farms within a three kilometre range.
It is the first recent case of bovine TB in County Durham. Dorothy Fairburn, regional director of the Country Land and
Business Association, is quoted in the Northern Echo

"The danger is that these isolated breakdowns start to occur more often. The real risk is that it gets into the wildlife – that is a frightening scenario."

The paper also quotes Professor Peter Atkins, from Durham University, who has investigated the spread of bovine TB. He said that a single case was not an "emergency"- he would, however,
like to find out more details about how the outbreak occurred.

"We are already carrying out a five year vaccination programme
in our Intensive Action Area but I have also allocated £1.25 million,
over five years, to establish the Badger Vaccination Grant that
we hope will lead to more badgers being vaccinated across Wales.
This programme and additional funding is another step in helping us work towards our ultimate goal of a TB free Wales."

The Welsh government has been funding vaccination in full in parts of south west and mid Wales. Last year it spent £1m on this.
So what Alun Davies is announcing
is a situation where farmers and other landowners, such as the National Trust, would foot the bill for vaccinating badgers
on their land and then apply to the Welsh government for a grant to help cover the costs. The grant will be awarded competitively so applicants
will have to meet certain criteria, according to the BBC
who mentioned all this last July and said
that it is estimated that it costs more than £600 to vaccinate each single badger in a campaign covering an area of 288 sq kms..

October 2013 ~Bill Harper says that the hands-on action of Somerset farmers has made a difference

The chairman of the National Beef Association's TB committee, Bill Harper,
says that the extent to which farmers take responsibility for TB control on their own farms is making a 'critical difference'
between the two trial badger cull areas.
He says that whereas farmers in Somerset have taken on the responsibility for appointing and coordinating marksmen, the farmers in
the Gloucestershire area who are directly affected by bovine TB have not been so involved. See Farming UK. Mr Harper was not optimistic about the possibility of humane gassing in the near future, but on the subject of vaccinating (presumably uninfected)
badgers,
went on to say that vaccination would be best deployed
in an area between the Manchester Ship Canal and the Humber, a distance of only 37 miles.

"Creating a 'firewall' across
this short distance can maintain the free status of the north, while farmers tackle the issue from the south upwards.
West Penwith is the natural starting point for such a project, and farmers will have the support of Secretary of State, Owen Patterson."

October 2013 ~ "...infected badgers more prone to form social links with badgers from other groups
and this is what facilitates the transmission of TB infection across badger populations."

An interesting article today
(28th Oct)comes from theconversation.com
summarising research published in
Current Biology in which 51 badgers were fitted with proximity-logging collars. Briefly, the study suggests
that effective badger vaccination would be less likely to disturb the badgers' networks
or risk further, more widespread infection. This would be a comforting conclusion for both farmers
and those opposed to a cull of badgers in any circumstances
if only bTB vaccination of badgers could be
shown to be both
effective and easy to carry out efficiently. DEFRA's "Options for the use of badger vaccines for the control of bovine TB"
includes the following points

"As the vaccine only benefits uninfected badgers the proportion of the population which is uninfected will influence how quickly benefits are seen.
Benefits may take longer to appear in high prevalence areas as it will take longer for the proportion
of uninfected badgers to rise...The badger vaccine is protective rather than therapeutic it is therefore not expected
to have any benefit for badgers which are already infected at the time of vaccination.
As it is not practical to distinguish diseased badgers from uninfected ones so diseased badgers will
end up being vaccinated as part of any programme.
...It should be noted that lifelong protection following a single dose of BCG is unlikely....
the replacement rate for badgers is estimated to be around 30% per year so each year there will be new cubs needing vaccination. "

The whole question of vaccinating badgers against the bTB bacterium is not, unfortunately, as easy as it seems.

October 2013 ~ "We are in favour of doing what works to solve the problem that is affecting so many of our tenants and farmers."

The National Trust members have voted. See BBC NewsMembers
of the Trust voted against a motion calling for badger culling to be banned on its land. The vote was taken "in anticipation of a widespread cull
which could roll out following the results of pilot culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset."
Some members had wanted a vaccination programme but in
a statement, the Trust said: "..Vaccination is our long-term preference, but may prove costly and hard to administer in practice."

October 2013 ~ Dominic Dyer, the policy advisor at Care for the Wild International, apologises to NFU president Peter Kendall

".....In a series of press appearances and tweets on and around 14 October 2013,
I raised my concerns about the unlawful gassing of badgers, following an investigation
into this practice which was broadcast by Sky News.
I remain concerned about unlawful gassing, but I accept
that in raising my concerns, I made a number of unsubstantiated allegations
about the knowledge and complicity of the National Farmers Union
and its officeholder Peter Kendall in the gassing of badgers, for which I had no foundation.
I withdraw those allegations, and I apologise unreservedly for making the comments in question."
Dominic Dyer

"The NFU does not condone any illegal activity that results in the killing of wildlife.
Anyone with any evidence of the illegal killing of badgers or any other wildlife
should report it to the police wildlife crime unit so it can be investigated."

October 2013 ~ "We won't be able to select bulls with resistant genes until April 2015,
then their daughters will be entering the milking herd in 2018 at the earliest."

Another reference, this time from the
Yorkshire Post, to the research project being undertaken by Scotland's Rural College and Edinburgh University's Roslin Institute.
The collaboration, which is a DairyCo-funded project, aims to develop a genetic trait which will enable bulls to be rnked according to their resistance to bovine TB.
DairyCo's head of genetics, Marco Winters, is quoted

"The good news is we will be able to identify those animals
carrying a degree of resistance; however, it's important to recognise that as yet
we have no way of knowing how many there will be come the end of the project
or whether these will be animals the farmer wants to breed from because of other criteria he or she is aiming for.
We must also remember this is a long-term initiative.
We won't be able to select bulls with resistant genes until April 2015,
then their daughters will be entering the milking herd in 2018 at the earliest.
While the trait for Bovine TB resistance is predicted to be moderately heritable,
once it is introduced it will take a quite a few years before any effect on disease incidence is seen.
However, despite these notes of caution, this is a very positive step in the right direction."

(NB In the light of the above,
would not
naturally resistant cattle who have met the bacterium react positively to the skin test?
If so, are naturally bTB resistant
cattle among those being culled and thus not able to pass on resistance?)

October 2013 ~ Gassing setts - the government is prepared to push ahead only if if it can be shown to be "humane, safe and effective".

"Until we can establish vaccines, we have to use the tools
employed by other sensible countries which is to remove wildlife. We made it quite clear in our TB strategy
that we would look at other methods of removing wildlife.
And yes we are looking at gassing, but we will not use it unless it is proven to be safe, humane and effective."

The Chief Vet, Nigel Gibbens, said earlier this year: "Cyanide gas is not a very nice way to die.
But you can't - and we shouldn't -
rule out humane methodology being developed and deployed in the future.
We are looking at research of different methods of deploying gas in a
humane way that would be effective because that would bring real benefits,
but we're not there at the moment."
Research is continuing into an oral badger bait
vaccine and methods of identifying diseased badger setts.
Trials so far have given mixed results. Mr Paterson reminded the House of Commons that
"... some of the animals we have shot have been desperately sick—in the final stages of disease - which is why we are completely determined to see the pilot culls through, and why we will pursue measures that the previous Government ducked. We are dealing with a bacterium
that affects cattle and wildlife, and ultimately human beings.
We will address that bacterium in a rigorous and logical manner."

October 2013 ~ BTB in farm cats

A vet has written to raise the question of bTB in farm cats. As he says, referring to the farm cat (see below) that died of TB
at the badly affected Gelli Aur college dairy farm herd in Carmarthenshire (a typical example, as Christianne Glossop
points out, of the current problem)

"This very cat quite likely has spread bTB for years. Since few farm cats are treated as pets how many infected farm cats are still
running around on this farm and on all other farms within UK?
And how many have been tested for bTB ( x rayed ) ever?"

October 2013 ~ Christianne Glossop gives "... a typical example of the current problem"

Wales is reaching the end of the pilot vaccination scheme in Pembrokeshire - the Intensive Action Area. Quoted in Farmers Weekly,
Wales' chief vet has warned that it is "too simplistic" to think that cage-trapping
and injecting badgers using the BCG vaccine will solve the problem on its own. It costs more than £600 a badger a year.
To show how present rigid rules and testing cannot spare even the best farmers from TB she gives the example
of the Gelli Aur college dairy farm in Carmarthenshire, grappling with TB for the past five years. It has
seen 400 cattle slaughtered and its farm cat died of TB even though "They have been subject to 60-day testing,
been fully compliant with all the rules and regulations and have very good biosecurity..." she told Farmers Weekly.
Read in full

October 2013 ~ Badger cull trials end in the next few days - and little sign of help for farmers affected by bTB in their herds

The Western Morning News
quotes Catherine Broomfield, secretary of the Devon Cattle Breeders' Association,
who expresses her worry about DEFRA's new 'risk-based approach' to trade and compensation.
Because in the present financial climate, departmental and government money is so hard to come by, it is farmers,
suffering financially and subjected to enormous worry and stress, who continue to be expected to make a
"significant contribution to the cost of controlling bTB". Catherine Broomfield asks

"...just how farmers in the HRA are supposed to survive
abnormally restricted markets, and reduced values for the cattle, unless supported by a
comprehensive package of financial support from Government....
If you're a farmer who has been decimated by TB and been unable to trade freely for the past decade,
you may already feel you've contributed more than enough."

But DEFRA's strategy is to remove free-trading conditions
between TB-endemic areas and the rest of the country - and affected farmers will have to cope with this situation for at least a decade.
Although DEFRA says that its intention is to "support the commercial viability of herds within the High Risk Area"
it also sets out to "deploy market measures, regulation, incentives and deterrents to reduce the risk of disease spread
due to cattle movements" from the High Risk Area to the rest of the country.
Catherine Broomfield concludes, "Let's not, through fatigue, allow ourselves to sleepwalk into
all that Defra has planned for us over the next 12 years." Read WMN in full

October 2013 ~ More news about the development of testing in America

bTB testing methods have changed little in
several decades. Now, improved antigens
(substances that cause the immune system to produce antibodies against foreign bacteria)
have led to the recent development of a new serum TB test by the American company, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.
A PDF from IDEXX publicising the new test includes the following

"....In a study of 45 Irish herds, adding the IDEXX M. bovis ELISA
increased overall testing sensitivity to 91.1%...."".... As a surveillance tool in bTB-negative areas,
the IDEXX M. bovis Ab Test can be used on other existing sample streams (such as MAP or brucellosis)
for easy, cost-effective testing.
High specificity also helps to provide a confident, early look at results during periodic testing events..."
"...The IDEXX M. bovis Ab Test requires only a single veterinary visit for a simple blood draw, compared to an intradermal
reaction test that requires a follow-up visit to read test results.
That means significant cost savings for customers, as well as reduced risk for both animals and handlers:

Beef cattle are rounded
up and worked only once, reducing the risk of injury for veterinarians, handlers and calves.

October 2013 ~ AHVLA confirms that bTB was recorded in sheep, pigs and goats, as well as domestic pets, a ferret
and a seal in 2012

The
Farmers Guardian gives the details, adding "The figures illustrate the extent to which M.bovis has spread
into other species but are likely to significantly underestimate the numbers of cases,
as there are nocompulsory testing regimes in species other than cattle." The
AHVLA surveillance report (pdf) for Great Britain
shows that there were nearly 5,000 new bovine TB cattle herd breakdowns across Great Britain in 2012.

October 2013 ~ Farmers may be able to breed TB-resistant cows in a new project developed for the dairy industry by DairyCo.

Scientists funded by DairyCo are hoping to be able to select bulls with bTB resistant genes by 2015.
See
The Grocer for more details.

October 2013 ~ "I fear TB could easily wipe out the livestock sector in parts of the UK"

The Farmers Guardian today quotes
NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond. On the subject of badger suffering
he said, "... this is a horrible disease of badgers. The badger dies a horrible, disgusting,
long, lingering death. It is a real animal welfare issue and we want to have healthy badgers
living alongside healthy cattle."
Mr Raymond's own family livestock farm in Wales is under TB restriction
and has lost around 40 cattle in the last nine months. He thanked Owen Paterson for his "bravery and determination"
in pushing ahead with the English badger cull policy, adding:

"
I honestly believe the pilots are working well. They are pilots. Let's roll them out to give our members, our farming people,
hope for the future. Otherwise I fear TB could easily wipe out the livestock sector in parts of the UK."

Alastair Driver's article
also quotes Sainsbury's chief executive, Justin King. He told an NFU fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference that
Sainsburys will
not be labelling milk from outside the pilot cull areas as "badger friendly". He said that to make such a claim would be misleading and dishonest.
Read in full

September 2013 ~ Owen Paterson has insisted the government will stand by the badger cull

At the Conservative Party conference
the Secretary of State pointed out that
the Republic of Ireland,
where badgers are now culled, has seen TB infection levels fall by more than 45%
since 2000 and that the Irish were having to slaughter only "close to half the number of cattle
they needed to 10 years ago" as a result of bTB. In the UK, however, between 1998 and 2010, the number of herd breakdowns in the UK
has tripled, he said, and the number of cattle slaughtered has increased six-fold.

"However difficult the choices ahead, we must not repeat
Labour's failed policy of doing nothing - a policy they continue to promulgate today. To be absolutely clear:
this government will not walk away from the tough decisions that are required to eradicate this devastating disease."

September 2013 ~ Doctor warns of rising threat to humans from animals infected with bovine TB

"more than 20
young British men and women have been infected with potentially fatal bovine tuberculosis,
and a specialist warned yesterday that unless it is brought under control in wildife, many more people could be at risk."

Bringing the disease under control is, as we have seen for the past decade or more, easier said than done.
But it is widely acknowledged that control cannot happen unless the reservoir in wild life is properly addressed.
The danger to human health has been "less well documented" than the widespread information about badger culls,
as the Times article points out.
No one should believe
that fatally infected badgers neither suffer nor excrete infectious disease.

"Badgers with terminal generalised tuberculosis can excrete vast numbers
of bacteria particularly when the kidneys are infected.
Counts of several million bacteria in a full urination have been recorded." (quoted in the
Memorandum submitted by Former Veterinary Officers,
State Veterinary Service to the EFRA Select Committee 2008)

Gallagher in his review with Clifton Hadley (Res.Vet.Sci. 2000, 69, 203-217) vividly describes the pathology of the
disease in badgers. "Above ground mortality due to TB is estimated as about 2% of the population per annum.
Thus in the South West alone with its now extensive endemically infected areas the annual deaths due to TB
will be of the order of at least 1000 to 2000." (Herd breakdowns rarely involve more than one or two reactors - which seems strongly to suggest that the disease
does not readily transmit between cattle in the same herd.)
The Times article shows a photo of
our friend, Dianne Summers, with her alpacas
and the stark caption: "she now has a hole in her lung". More about the danger to humans and other mammals susceptible to bTB
can be seen on the BVA website.

September 2013 ~ A PCR kit for detecting bovine TB produced and advertised for sale
online by BioinGentech in Chile

An intriguing advert from Chile
www.kitpcr.com/ (link mended)
for a PCR kit for use on cattle and that is
"suitable for all PCR machines"
may be of interest,
and informed comments would be gratefully received. The advert includes
the following:

" Mycobacterium bovis is a Gram-positive bacillus with zoonotic potencial,
that primarily causes tuberculosis in cattle, but it may also infect and cause illness among other animals,
including humans. .... Early stages of the infection often show no signs.
As the disease progresses, weight loss, lack of appetite, weakness, and a low-grade fever are common.
VetPCRTM M.bovis Detection Kit is the direct detection of Mycobacterium bovis on the basis of a genetic database,
so it can diagnose very fast and accurately. It can amplify only specific gene using the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method,
and take only 3 hours for detection...."

Comment
about the potential use of such a kit would be very gratefully received.

September 2013 ~ Badger culling would be ditched in favour of badger vaccination, says Labour

Labour wants to redirect
funding towards badger vaccination. The EFRA
Committtee's June 2013 Report noted that the use of the BadgerBCG vaccine was still in its infancy, very little data has yet been collected as to efficacy and
that "mitigating the effect of the disease through vaccination may increase the survival time of carriers and secretors."
Meanwhile, disappointingly little has apparently been heard from any political party in response to what seems to be one of EFRA's most important paragraphs, 59:

"PCR testing of badger faeces has the potential to identify those setts
which harbour infected badgers. Doing so will not only enable a vaccination programme
to be better targeted and therefore more cost-effective
but may also be able to show whether the vaccination has been successful
in creating herd immunity in particular social groups.
We recommend that the Government provide funding to explore how this research
might be applied practically in the field."

It would be very interesting to know if, when and how political parties respond to this recommendation.

September 2013 ~ "Farmers will be deeply frustrated" at the Labour Party decision to abandon badger culls says Peter Kendall

Huw Irranca-Davies
told a fringe meeting

"If we were in a position to stop the existing
culls without any danger of making the situation worse we would
but we cannot be sure of that because of the issue of perturbation. So the first thing we would do in 2015
is sit down with the people who are leading these projects and find out the detail and what is being achieved
have they being doing it effectively and humanely? Would they make matters worse by cancelling it halfway?" (see
Alastair Driver's article in today's Farmers Guardian)

So Labour has been careful in not slamming the door entirely on badger culling.
If returned in 2015, perhaps "sitting down with those leading the projects" would allow a volte face.
All the same, the effect of today's declaration on those who object to slaughter when it refers to wildlife (but who seem resigned to the thousands of
cows and calves summarily killed as a result of a positive skin test)is likely to be very enthusiastic.
Much political capital is always made of the use of "evidence-based decisions".
Unfortunately, the scientific
evidence and informed opinion that urges the eradication of the bTB reservoir in wild animals as part of the solution in
curbing bTB in Britain has for many years been seen as a threat to political popularity more than as a threat to the bTB bacterium.

September 2013 ~ DEFRA has begun research into whether badgers can be given a contraceptive either orally or through injection.

Scientists are exploring possible ways to administer contraceptives to captive badgers and those in the wild. The plans were outlined in a draft strategy from central government to get rid of bTB in the UK in 25 years.
A Defra spokesman is quoted on the This is Cornwall
website:

"We are testing the science and the application of both injectable
and oral contraceptives in badgers. Contraceptive products are already used to control other wildlife species in other countries.
We know that badgers and cattle spread TB, and no country has dealt with the disease without tackling infection in both wildlife and cattle.
No one wants to cull badgers, but there is currently no other proven way to quickly and effectively reduce disease in TB hotspots."

(It has been pointed out to this website
that the mating season for female badgers is not a fixed month and if contraceptives are administered during the prooestrus,
oestrus or postoestrus phase "serious consequences can easily occur".
Contraceptives have to be administered strictly according to body weight or there can be a high risk
of hormonal complications such as pyometra (pus in the uterus) which - after a fortnight or longer
of severe suffering- is normally fatal.)

September 2013 ~ A bovine TB survivor speaks out in favour of the badger cull trials.

As tensions continue to rise in the media over the badger cull trial, a newspaper
in Lancashire quotes a survivor of bTB:

"I love animals, don't get me wrong.
I have had dogs, cats, rabbits, you name it, but I would rather they cull the badgers than people suffer what I went through."

Mrs Brenda Barnes
was confined to a hospital bed for nearly two years after drinking infected, unpasteurised milk.
Had the disease not been detected, she would either have died or been paralysed. She was admitted to hospital aged 22, and left
two months before her 25th birthday. After being discharged, she had to wear two steel plates fitted to her spine, and had to learn
to walk again.
She is now 81 and has grandchildren and great grandchildren. A lifelong lover of all animals, she still thinks that
"human life should be prioritised to prevent the spread the disease spreading."

September 2013 ~ American scientists are developing new methods to prevent and control bTB

Scientists at the Infectious Bacterial Diseases Research Unit at the Agricultural Research Service's National Animal Disease Center (NADC)
are trying to improve both tests and possible vaccines.
Microbiologist Tyler Thacker's work on PCR analysis of DNA detects the bacterium in fresh tissues. "It is quicker, accurate
and helps distinguish between M. bovis and environmental mycobacteria, which can cause false-positive results." See
USDA news The United States Department of Agriculture
article emphasises that:

..countries with
wildlife reservoirs of TB have been unable to eradicate the disease from cattle. Research to help control the
disease targets wild boars in Spain, brushtail possums in New Zealand, and badgers in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom
...Over the last 12 years, NADC scientists
have shown that improved antigens, such as one known as "MPB83," are crucial in developing effective assays,
Waters says. These findings have played a key role in a new serum TB diagnostic test, developed by IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. "

July 5/6th 2013 ~ Warwick university "currently leading on Defra-funded research to optimise the sampling regime with the aim
of improving the performance of
the (PCR) test in the field."

DEFRA's
consultation strategy looks at the current
state of technology for detecting bTB in wildlife.
The killing of badgers in the trial culling areas is not yet targeted only on those animals found to be definitely infected.
This is because diagnosing bTB in the field is still so very difficult. The Consultation Strategy mentions that

"methods being assessed include PCR and immuno-magnetic separation
(IMS) coupled with a lateral flow device."

Warwick University has been working on a PCR method
since 2007 but its current test is not sensitive enough yet at detecting known infected social groups from faecal samples collected
in the field. Queens University, Belfast, is working on the IMS technique which has the potential to increase the sensitivity
of environmental sampling strategies.
Owen Paterson's statement sounds a cautiously optimistic note on the EU stance on cattle vaccination:

"....I have already achieved a major success in securing a concrete route-map from
Commissioner Tonio Borg (DG-SANCO) on the application of a cattle vaccination programme.
I am committed to meeting the minimum timescale for its implementation,
but that is at least 10 years away."

It is encouraging that DEFRA under Mr Paterson is determined
to give every possible chance to what are referred to as "novel tools to control the disease in both species" Unfortunately,
the development of vaccines against this bacterium is particularly problematic. As these pages will attest, the timescale of
"ten years"
for a viable vaccine has been given for at least a decade already - but the need for a licensed and effective vaccine for all susceptible species has never been more urgent.

July 5th 2013 ~ zoonotic TB
"can present a risk to human health to those who are in close contact with infected animals or people who drink unpasteurised milk."

Yesterday's
Farmers Guardian looks at Owen Paterson's determination to eradicate zoonotic TB in the next 25 years.
On the day of DEFRA's consultation on its new bTB strategy
the paper quotes him: "28,000 otherwise healthy cattle were slaughtered last year because of bovine TB. Today we start a countdown
towards an England free from this terrible disease. We must stop bovine TB (bTB) spreading
into previously unaffected areas while bringing it under control in places where it has taken hold." DEFRA's new draft strategy
makes it very clear that the thinking now is zoonotic TB:

"can present a risk to human health
to those who are in close contact with infected animals or people who drink unpasteurised milk."

It includes "working with the farming industry" to give farmers buying cattle more information about their TB history. "...crucial
TB risk information such as movement and testing history will be shared at the point of sale so farmers will know the animal's TB
testing history before purchase."
The DEFRA strategy also mentions the intention to
carry out further research into giving badgers contraceptives
to reduce the current explosion in badger populations. We're pleased too, to see the mention of "new diagnostic tests"
alongside research on better vaccines. DEFRA's consultation is open
and runs from 4 Jul 2013 to 26 Sep 2013. Read the
Draft Strategy in full (pdf)

It is astonishing and worrying that, on the subject of bTB, media spokespersons can get facts about this ever-growing threat
so wrong. The risk is far from "negligible" as, for example, the brave and unfortunate
Dianne Summers knows to her cost.

June 27th 2013 ~ Seal pup in Cornwall had bovine TB

"...was suffering from several bite wounds.
When he failed to respond to treatment and deteriorated, staff at the sanctuary raised the alarm with vets.
Tests carried out by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency showed that the pup had bovine TB and in order to prevent any contamination the decision was taken to euthanase him.
The results of investigations suggested the strain originated from south west Wales.."

The report in the Veterinary Record was as a result of a post mortem.

June 14th 2003~ "eight people currently undergoing treatment in Gloucestershire for bTB thought to have been caught from their cats."

The farmer, Phil Latham, writing in the
Farmers Guardian, was on the panel at the recent Times Cheltenham Science Fair.
After commenting on how the motion "this house believes culling badgers will reduce bovine TB" was carried with 81 per cent
of the audience in favour, he reports on a health worker in the audience who told those present during questions from the floor
that there were eight people currently undergoing treatment in Gloucestershire for bovine TB, thought to have been caught from their
cats. It is easy to forget that mammals other than cows and badgers can be infected with the bacterium - and that these include pets and people.
We have been told that the AHVLA are aware of these
cases and the cats are being tested. Human cases of bTB are very serious and the treatment is distressing. As Mr Latham says,

"it is important to remember why bovine or zoonotic TB is controlled by international conventions – it is because humans can be infected
and it beggars belief that infection levels have been allowed to increase both in cattle and wildlife for the last 15 years."

(Mr Latham says of his latest herd test that he "did not know whether to be sick or burst into tears when we were given the all clear.
It is a relief, but how long will that last?")

June 14th 2003 ~ More than 9000 cattle killed in the first quarter of 2013 as a result of positive test results or being a "direct contact"

See Farmers Guardian article by Alistair Driver: "....However, Defra statisticians stress that
the figures do not yet give the full picture, as results on a number of tests, currently deemed 'unclassified', have yet to come through.
"As such, the incidence rates are subject
to further revisions as more tests and their results for the period are input," the Defra statistical notice cautioned.

June 4th 2013 ~ France tackles its diseased badgers

Warmwell is out of action again for the time being - but please do check the always factually accurate and forceful bovinetb.blogspot.comThe most recent posting concerns the emergence, now in the Ardennes region of France, of what Matthew rightly calls "zoonotic tuberculosis" . The badger is protected in France - but there is no question there about the need to test and control infections in wildlife when the consequences of spread can be as appalling as we are now seeing in the UK. In England, what Matthew calls "the totally ignorant or the wilfully misled" are demonstrating no real compassion for any at-risk group. In France the disease is taken very seriously indeed and they are under no illusions about the complexity of this rampantly destructive bacterium against which no vaccine is yet adequate or effective.

The Chief Vet was quoted in the
Independent , saying that UK must take bold action to curb the spread of the disease in the country's badger population and that
infected badgers pose a risk to pets and, in turn, to human health.

If we do not maintain and improve our bovine TB controls and levels of bovine TB continued to increase,
the risk of infection to other mammals and humans would inevitably increase"

The paper adds: "Humans would be most likely to pick up bovine TB through their pet cat or dog but they could potentially contract the disease from alpacas, cattle, deer or foxes.
The disease is typically spread by inhaling the germs breathed out or coughed up by infected animals or from their urine and excrement..."

June 1st 2013 ~ Letters in the Independent

Hoping to cool the situation with facts about the science and the research, letters to the
Independent today
are written by Professor Ian Boyd and by James Wood, Alborada Professor of Equine and Farm Animal Science, University of Cambridge.
Tom Hind, Director of Corporate Affairs at the NFU points out that "Culls will only ever be carried out in areas where TB is endemic and will
never be carried out nationwide."

The Chief Vet was quoted in the
Independent , saying that UK must take bold action to curb the spread of the disease in the country's badger population and that
infected badgers pose a risk to pets and, in turn, to human health.

If we do not maintain and improve our bovine TB controls and levels of bovine TB continued to increase,
the risk of infection to other mammals and humans would inevitably increase"

The paper adds: "Humans would be most likely to pick up bovine TB through their pet cat or dog but they could potentially contract the disease from alpacas, cattle, deer or foxes.
The disease is typically spread by inhaling the germs breathed out or coughed up by infected animals or from their urine and excrement..."

May 31st 2013 ~ Licences to cull badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset will become valid from tomorrow.

The aim is to kill a total of about 5,000 badgers in the worst bTB hotspots
(70%
of the estimated population in the two culling zones). Once the cull begins, shooters have up to six weeks to complete the programme.
DEFRA says, "Culling will
be closely monitored in these two areas. The monitoring is being overseen by a panel of independent experts,
who have advised on the appropriate methods for monitoring effectiveness and humaneness.
The panel will also use feedback from those
undertaking field observations to confirm that culling is safe and consider whether any amendments to the training and best practice guidance are necessary."

May 31st 2013 ~ "only 2 per cent picked the badger cull"

"When more than 1,700 members of the public in England and Wales were asked to select from a list of the five most important issues
facing the country, only 2 per cent picked the badger cull....support for the cull was divided, with 34 per cent opposed and 29 per cent in favour.
More than one-third said they 'don't know' or had no strong feelings....
The YouGov poll followed a separate survey carried out for The Grocer magazine,
which showed just 4.5 per cent of shoppers mentioned the badger cull unprompted when asked about controversial issues facing the dairy industry."

May 30th 2013 ~ "Making money out of inflicting continued suffering on badgers is as cruel as digging them and baiting them for sport.
And to do so in the name of charity is little short of a national scandal."

Derek Mead is an entrepreneur dairy farmer from Weston-super-Mare. His article today in the
Western Morning News takes a wearily scathing look both at the RSPCA and at the bTB "experts":

"People who you wouldn't expect to know the first thing about bovine TB,
bio-security, gamma interferon testing and the personal habits of badgers have been occupying platforms and writing letters to the newspapers,
all with an immense air of authority..."

His own Badger Welfare Association is opposed to the intended cull, "as it is to be carried out in the two,
(and maybe three) trial areas" because he - like many of us who know that we are not going to eradicate bTB without first eradicating free-roaming diseased wildlife -
would far rather

"employ field craft to target those setts where we have reason to believe infection is lurking, rather than wiping out every badger for miles around,
as will be the result of the Government's cull."

As for the RSPCA, it:

"appears content to allow badgers to carry on dying
in such a manner – all in the interests of whipping up support from the badger activists and topping up its funds.
Making money out of inflicting continued suffering on badgers is as cruel as digging them and baiting them for sport.
And to do so in the name of charity is little short of a national scandal."

It sounds like a shockingly harsh charge - but this website has been uncomfortable
about the politicisation and leadership
of the once-loved
RSPCA for well over a decade.

May 20th 2013 ~ "It's necessary and I certainly would do."

This was the answer of a Gloucestershire beef farmer, asked if he would allow a badger cull
to take place on his farm.
See Farmers Weekly
- which will tell the "heart-rending" story of this farmer's losses on May 24th. 50 of his cows have been killed after tests in just the last 15 months
and he fears losing so many animals to TB that it will soon make it impossible for him to continue.
Although some among the anti-cull lobby make it very hard - indeed dangerous - for
any farmer to talk openly about allowing infected badgers to be killed on their farm, Mr Barton seems to be speaking out
(see video) with the courage
born of utter frustration and misery.
It seems particularly cruel
that the public at large are being told that a badger vaccination programme is a viable alternative to culling in the fight against diseased badgers. Were it possible, affected farmers would jump at the chance of vaccinating all the badgers in their area.
Unfortunately, once infected, the diseased badger will inevitably become highly infectious and spread the disease. At present,
the vaccine can do nothing to cure bTB. As for the vaccine's
effectiveness in preventing the disease in uninfected badgers, it is important to remember the provisos in a piece of recent research often quoted by those who say vaccination should be used instead of targeted culls

"..the triple testV used here is the most sensitive and specific measure of M. bovis infection in a live vaccinated
badger and so provides confidence that these results are biologically meaningful. The effect of vaccination on the triple testV outcome was to reduce
the risk of a positive result by 54% in vaccinated individuals. Without post-mortem data it was not possible to ascertain
what proportion of the triple testV-negative, vaccinated badgers were protected from infection and what proportion still
acquired infection, but were not detected using the triple testV. It is unsafe to assume that triple testV negativity equates to the absence of infection.."

In other words,
even those of us who heartily wish for an alternative to killing badgers to reduce the incidence of bTB have to accept that vaccination alone cannot yet go far enough to getting rid of the bacterium in wildlife.
Meanwhile, farmers such as Mr Barton and many, many others are double victims.
They feel the misery of their cows being killed but also the unjustified abhorrence of the anti-cull lobby, many of whom have been mis-led by over-simplification or downright nonsense on the subject of vaccination.

May 17th 2013 ~ Vaccine "..we are looking for ways to accelerate the work we were already doing on planning the experimental research and large scale trialling of the vaccine" David Heath MP

Bill Wiggin asked DEFRA in a written Question on Thursday "what plans he has to start bovine TB cattle vaccination trials;

(2) whether he has submitted a request to the European Commission to start bovine TB cattle vaccination trials; and what the timetable is for any such programme; [155545]
(3) what steps he is taking to ensure that any bovine TB cattle vaccination trials to be undertaken in England do not adversely affect the ability to export beef and dairy products." [155546]

David Heath's reply can be seen on Hansard.In essence, he said that although the conditions set down by EU Commissioner Tonio Borg concerning "the substantial scientific evidence that will
be needed before any decision can be taken on lifting the current EU ban on cattle vaccination" led the Commissioner to repeat the much quoted time scale of 10 years,
DEFRA is looking for ways "to accelerate the work we were already doing on planning the experimental
research and large scale trialling of the vaccine that the Commissioner regards as the essential next step." He said that he hoped to have successfully
completed all the experimental work next year

"so that we can make an application to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate for an Animal Test Certificate
to begin the necessary field trials."

In a separate answer he reiterated:
"...cattle measures alone are not enough to prevent the spread of disease in the worst affected areas.
In order to stop it spreading further we need to address the issue of infected badgers passing the disease to cattle. Two badger culling pilots will go ahead this summer to test the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of controlled shooting and inform a decision on a wider roll-out of the policy.
The Government intends to publish a broad strategy pulling all of these strands together."

May 15th 2013 ~"Cattle inter-mingle with badgers. The disease just keeps cycling in the system"

The website The TB freeEngland co.uk website.has been following a farmer, Nick, and his experience of bovine TB on his organic Derbyshire farm.
Nick's has been a closed herd for 25 years.
(This means that no animals are purchased and brought into the herd. Breeding is from within the herd.)
Running a closed herd ensures that infected cows from outside are never brought into the herd -
yet he has suffered many losses and his beef farm is still under restrictions.
The latest cow taken for slaughter because of a failed TB test was just ten months old. It was a heifer and would have lived on the farm for at least ten years.
Only after two clear tests – after 60 days and 120 days – can his farm open for business again.
Nick's is just one of the video accounts on The TB freeEngland co.uk website.
In the absence of an oral vaccination bait for badgers - and no vaccine at all yet for cows - farmers in the hotspots cannot be blamed for the view that getting rid of infected badgers is essential in the fight against TB.
In the hotspot area of Pembrokeshire, where the first year of trapping and vaccinating by injection as many badgers as possible has just ended, estimated costs
per badger are estimated at £662 per year for five years – a total of £3,310 per badger.
(See Report)
Badgers that are already infected with TB cannot be cured with the vaccine. Once other badgers realise
that they are sick they are expelled from the sett to wander alone in search of food. They inevitably die slowly and in great pain from the disease - unless they join the increasing numbers of dead badgers one sees at the side of our roads.

May 3rd 2013 ~ "The only (badger) vaccine that exists at the moment is an injectable
one, and it has to be repeated annually for five years."

New research led by Professor Paul Barrow at the University of Nottingham's
School of Veterinary Medicine and Science will investigate the disease in UK and
Chinese cattle in collaboration with Beijing's China Agricultural University. using
advanced microarray technology to test samples from cattle from both the UK and
China to detect the mixture of bacteria that may be present in a single animal The
two-year project has been funded with a £200,000 grant from the Research Councils
UK (RCUK) and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) China-UK Cooperation
Programme in Global Priorities. Professor Barrow is quoted at www.news-medical.net

"We have discovered very interesting and novel interactions between different
bacterial types during mixed infections. One bacterial type can stimulate short
term immunity against unrelated bacteria providing a degree of protection. We want
to look to see if a similar relationship occurs between the bovine tubercle bascillus
and other bacteria which are present in the tissues at the same time."

In China
as in the UK, bovine TB is now a major problem. We read that "..The research could
potentially lead to the development of an emergency vaccine that could be used to
stimulate rapid resistance to bovine TB in the event that infection is found within
a herd. Similarly, the application could also apply to humans, with family members
being vaccinated quickly after the diagnosis of TB in a close relative."

April 24th 2013 ~ "as the picture worsens it is clear the red tape and inconvenience
that farmers have to endure because of the disease isn’t working."

See Western
Morning News in an article today that reminds readers that badgers
are not endangered "quite the reverse", while farmers in the worst affected areas
are experiencing misery heaped on misery. NFU vice-president Adam Quinney, is
quoted

"..I am a cattle farmer and I know these numbers have increased
despite additional cattle controls, more pre-movement testing and stricter on-farm
bio-security measures which were introduced in July last year."

The article
continues: "That is why, whatever Team Badger, the anti-cull group of animal welfare
organisations says, the pilot culls in West Somerset and West Dorset must get under
way, on schedule, within the next six weeks. It is pretty clear that cattle controls
are not working; it is possible that vaccinating badgers may succeed, and that is
being tried in a number of areas. We sincerely hope it works. But given the scale
of the problem there would be no justification for holding off on the other weapon
in the armoury to bring this dreadful disease under control... A great deal of emotion
surrounds the culling of badgers, in part because - unnecessarily many contend-
badgers have complete protection under the Badger Act when what was needed was protection
against the cruel practices of badger baiting and badger digging. The pilot culls
will give those fighting the scourge of bovine TB one more string to their bow.
They should not be denied it, given the horrors of this disease."

April 23rd 2013 ~ bTB threatens the very future of farming

The new TB Free England
website , launched by the NFU at the end of last month, has been produced to
provide factual information about the disease and the urgent need to control its
spread in badgers and other wildlife. Meanwhile, we read in Farmers
Weekly that the coalition of charities "Team Badger", whose members have set
their faces against any culling of badgers, says that the government

"risks
losing votes in next week's local council elections"

if the targeted culling
of badgers goes forward - "relentlessly pursuing a badger cull" as they put it -
in the pilot zones of west Somerset and west Gloucestershire in the Summer where
so many farmers' lives have been devastated as a result of bTB test results.
Farmers who support badger culling could even be "banned from trading at a farmers'
market in Gloucestershire under plans to force traders to sign an anti-cull agreement"
(see Farmers
Weekly for April 17).

April 21st 2013 ~ Owen Paterson "I have come away with enormous admiration for
what you have done on your wildlife reservoir"

The DEFRA Minister has been in New Zealand to learn about its bovine TB programme,
and how effective disease and wild animal control had played its part in reducing
infected herd numbers from around 1700 in 1994 to around 70 today. See the
Scoop report www.scoop.co.nz

"....During a visit to a Wairarapa farm, Mr Paterson was given some practical
insights into TB testing, the science and technology involved in wild animal control
and also discussed the progress of research into other disease control techniques
including cattle vaccines."

April 20th 2013 ~ "An eradication programme should seek to control and eradicate
a killer zoonosis -Tuberculosis. Not any single species...."

"Already, " says Matthew at the http://bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk
, "we are seeing spillover to and consequential human infections from companion
mammals and domestic pets. " More
than 3,000 cows were culled because of bovine TB in January - almost a 25% rise
on the same time last year. Official DEFRA bTB statistics, released on 19th April
this year, showed that 3,215 cattle were slaughtered across the UK in January, equivalent
to an increase of 24.2% on January 2012. We are concerned that the main
stream media seem reluctant to make it clear that this level of tuberculosis in
the environment poses a very real threat to other mammals. That this includes
human beings, the extraordinarily brave campaigner, Dianne Summers, knows to her
cost. Her suffering comes from the same strain (spoligotype) of bTB as that
in her alpacas who, in spite of all her efforts to protect them, and none of which
had had any contact with cattle, fell victim to bTB in 2008 and 2009. It is
the same strain as that in infected local badgers The latest
blog post from Matthew shows how very serious is the present situation for Dianne
and how misguided the complacency that abounds. "This disease is not about
cattle, or badgers. Already we are seeing spillover to and consequential human
infections from companion mammals and domestic pets. An eradication programme should
seek to control and eradicate a killer zoonosis -Tuberculosis. Not any single species....
Those 35,000 sentinel 'messengers' which Defra shot last year, were telling us something.
We ignore their message at our peril..."

October 26th 2012 ~ "If such
a test were to be developed and approved at EU and international levels –
which would take time – the rules could be changed relatively quickly." EU
Commission

Statement from the European Commission regarding an article in the Mail On Sunday
on 21 October "The European Commission was disappointed to see an article by
Brian May in the Mail on Sunday on 21 October which quotes Georg Haeusler, chief
adviser to the European Commissioner for Agriculture. Some of the quotes are out
of context or inaccurate - and therefore misleading.Vaccination of cattle against
TB is forbidden under current EU rules agreed by all Member States, including the
UK. This is because there is no effective test to tell the difference between vaccinated
and infected animals, making it impossible to protect the food chain and identify
which animals could be exported.If such a test were to be developed and approved
at EU and international levels – which would take time – the rules could
be changed relatively quickly. But Mr Haeusler explained that
this would be the responsibility of the Health Commissioner, who deals with vaccination
issues, and who could also advise on the exact process and timing in this case.
The Commission provides substantial financial support to the approved UK bovine
TB eradication programme. For 2012, EUR 31.2 million were allocated to implement
a rapid eradication strategy. There is no EU financial support provided for the
culling of badgers." Our grateful thanks to Sabine Zentis who sent the
link and puts into words what many must be feeling: "As I see it there is enough
evidence not to get into vaccination of badgers and cattle, with or without
a DIVA test as the vaccines against mycobacterial disease ( like Johne's) in my
opinion can't contribute to eradicate the disease but rather suppress severe clinical
signs. Especially with bTB I wouldn't take this approach, it is still a zoonotic
disease and there is no way around having a go at infected animals, be it cattle
or badgers. This is just depressing."

October 24th 2012 ~"what we need now is some decent insight in to
the organism - and that might take time." Dr Colin Fink

Once again, we are grateful to Dr Fink, for his informed opinion. He writes today:

"...The problem that Governments have is that they are afraid to say 'we don't know'.
There are an awful lot of 'don't knows' here, and trying to shoot 70% of the
badgers and not managing it ( how do you measure accurately?) to gain a 16% reduction
in cattle cases seems a bit of a tall order. We have no good vaccine as yet for
badgers, cattle, nor indeed for Homo Sapiens, we do not know enough about the persistence
of the organism in the environment outside mammalian bodies, we do not know the
amount of inter-cattle infection in a herd from one index case nor do we know the
residual infection in other wildlife than badgers.So all in all a dog's breakfast.
We need decent research and time. It will take time - and in the meantime perhaps
triple antibiotics and progesterones at feeding stations ( badgers are quickly habituated)
may just reduce the Mycobacterial carriage, reduce fertility and keep badgers fat
and contented - and thus reduce their wandering. Does any one else have a better
suggestion?"

To us, the suggestion Dr Fink has been making for some time that triple antibiotics
and progesterones be put in bait at feeding stations in order to reduce badger reproduction
while keeping infection low, seems a truly excellent interim measure. As usual,
comments from other informed sources would be welcome.(Update: The
veterinarian, Ueli Zellweger, queries what dosage Dr Fink would suggest for both
antibiotics and the progesterone, since badgers differ in weight. He points out
that if a pregnant sow eats progesterone "her gestation will be prolonged which
puts her and her cubs to a high risk")

October 23rd 2012 ~ British Veterinary Association ".... If the pilots
cannot be delivered effectively this year then is it responsible to postpone until
next year. "

Owen Paterson has announced that the proposed pilot culls, due to take place this
autumn, will be postponed until next year "due to logistical problems with the delivery
this year". The BVA has issued a
press release in which its President, Peter Jones, said:

"Although vets and farmers in the bovine TB endemic areas will be frustrated
by the delay in implementing the pilot badger culls, we are relieved that Defra
has firmly stated that there has been no change in Government policy.
The science has not changed. Scientists agree that culling badgers does reduce the
levels of infection in cattle herds, and we know that no country has dealt with
bovine TB without tackling the disease in wildlife. However, the results of recent
sett surveys to determine badger numbers in the pilot areas have led the NFU to
conclude that at this stage it cannot be confident that it will be possible to remove
enough badgers for the policy to be effective.
It is vital that the delivery of a badger cull is both effective and humane We look
forward to continuing to work with the Government and farmers to ensure the policy
can be successfully delivered next summer"

See also Owen
Paterson's statement. Many now, including the Farmers Union of Wales, are hoping
that the badger cull delay will lead to a "full and proper" assessment of the RBCT
trials.

October 22nd 2012 ~ A last-minute final legal challenge from the Badger Trust

Gwendolen Morgan, the Badger Trust's solicitor, is quoted in the Western
Daily Press, "The costs of the cull are soaring out of control, with little
benefit in sight for farmers and major risks posed for members of the public in
the cull areas. It is time for the Government to reconsider." The challenge,
says the paper, "has been aimed as much at convincing previously undecided MPs,
mainly from urban constituencies." A spokesman for Natural England said the
cull could begin this week, as soon as the final licence conditions were met by
those with the guns. "We are considering the letter and will respond in due
course," he said.

bTB is a disease that can infect many mammals, including goats, pigs,
alpacas and even people

the number of cases in cattle has been doubling every nine years and culling
up to 26,000 cattle each year has not stopped this "relentless increase"

the decision to cull was based on scientific evidence of more than 15
years of intensive research plus evidence from other countries.

Research demonstrates that cattle and badgers transmit the disease to
each other and "culling badgers leads to a reduction of the disease in cattle if
it is carried out over a large enough area and for a sufficient length of time"

culling will initially take place in two pilot areas to "enable us to test our
assumptions about the effectiveness, safety and humaneness of culling by means of
controlled shooting".

Culling over a sufficiently large area should ensure the benefits outweigh problems
caused by movement of badgers.

management measures to reduce the risk of spread of disease between badgers
and cattle will be undertaken by farmers

They acknowledge that culling alone is not the answer but stress that vaccination
of either badgers or cattle is not a viable alternative at the present time. Read
in full

October 16th 2012 ~ "an outdated EU directive governing export which insists
on 'accelerated eradication' of the disease and simultaneously bans the use of cattle
vaccine.."

"Even the
casual observer can see that the answer to this issue is to challenge the EU and
get the rules changed to allow cattle vaccine - hence the huge and justifiable
public outcry in opposition to a massacre of our badgers."

Unfortunately, the
article continues in a way to give credence to the idea that bTB is not the serious
problem in the UK that it undoubtedly is (and upon which we have been reporting
for a decade). We see a quotation: from the same farmer suggesting that figures
of breakdowns had been sensationalised. He even says: "Cases of Bovine TB have not
risen dramatically. There is no epidemic."
Many with an understanding of the true scale of the problem will feel that this
is journalistic irresponsibility. It is particularly unfortunate that, at
a time when animal lovers are encouraged to believe that farmers who want to try
to protect their own animals somehow have other choices at their disposal, many
news articles are taking the simple road to popularity by demonising the proposed
hotspots cull. Farmers have seen herds, that they have tended for generations,
destroyed at a stroke because of bacteria in the fields over which have roamed infected
badgers. It is not surprising that many farmers are feeling now that the only
choice they have is to give up in despair.

The new DEFRA Minister's speech to the Conservative Party Conference is reported
in the Independent:

"...Let's be clear. Bovine TB imposes a shattering financial and emotional
cost on our farmers, their families and communities. This will only get worse if
we continue the cowardly policy of inaction pursued by Labour in government. Let
me tell you, there is no easy solution. Despite £15.5 million being
spent on vaccine research, there was no workable solution in the short term. We
need healthy wildlife living alongside healthy cattle. Only if we work to eradicate
the reservoir of TB in our badgers, will we have the strong and prosperous dairy
industry the public wishes to see."

October 12th 2012 ~ "Since when was it appropriate for a supposedly
legitimate welfare organisation to effectively prescribe objection to carefully
debated and legally-tested government policy?"

This was the reaction of a Freedom Food pig producer who has
written to the National Pig Association expressing serious concerns about the letter
sent by the RSPCA to its members saying that its "Freedom
Food" scheme would suspend participating farmers if they take part in the
badger cull trials. See Alistair Driver's article in the Farmers
Guardian. While there can be little doubt that many RSPCA officers on the
ground do sincere and helpful work, this website has been concerned about the
increasingly political powers of the charity for many years. Owen
Paterson has now warned the RSPCA to be 'wary' that its political campaigning activities
do not compromise its charitable status. (see yesterday's Farmers
Guardian)

October 8th 2012 ~ Owen Paterson says that vaccines are ‘not yet
in a position to be deployed’ in either cattle or badgers.

" ....told a meeting of the Conservative Rural Affairs Group, in Birmingham, that,
as things stand today, vaccines are ‘not yet in a position to be deployed’
in either cattle or badgers. "The injectable badger vaccine may work on individual
animals but are we seriously being told by these people that we are just going to
inject every single badger every year? He said BCG was available for cattle
but was ‘only 56-68 per cent effective’, according to research, meaning
at least one-third of animals would remain unprotected. He added that the
DIVA test was not yet available..."

He reminded them that "we are still held back by EU rules" which would need changing,
and insisted the pilot culls in West Gloucestershire and West Somerset were the
right way forward. They were "practical exercises" to establish if culling
using controlled shooting works.

October 5th 2012 ~ "...clearly the level of investment that's going into the
development of TB vaccines shows the commitment to develop these important tools
to control TB in the UK."

FWi
quotes Glyn Hewinson, chief scientist at the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories
Agency (AHVLA). Having pointed out the present limitations of cattle vaccine
he says that
bTB vaccination for cattle is available and when used in conjunction with existing
control measures, it could offer farmers an important tool to help prevent TB infection
in their herds. "I don't think it can be a strategy on its own - you have to use
all the tools in your toolbox," he said. The makers of vaccines and DIVA
tests want a good return on their investment, and while vaccination goes on being
prohibited by the EU, a lack of confidence that investment in developing really
effective vaccines can be financially worthwhile would be understandable. DEFRA
is, we are told, working with the EU to change the current EU reluctance
to allow a BCG cattle vaccine and an accompanying DIVA test. We can only hope that
this will be successful and the phrase we have been hearing for the past decade,
and longer, that "the timetable remains uncertain" may soon change to something
that reflects the urgency of the situation.

September 26th 2012 ~ Camelids - news from alpaca.org

Dianne Summers writes that there are several updates on the website www.alpacatb.org.
1. Home Page Defra Table of confirmed New breakdowns by county in camelids up
to 30th June 2012. Below the number 61 click on the link to view the Defra table.
2. NEWS PAGE and PCR TAB Update on 2nd stage of the PCR study. 3. NEWS Page
Letter from DEFRA on the way forward regarding camelids and btb.She adds, "Please
note these are only proposed measures and are not yet in place."As always, our sincere
thanks for all the work Dianne Summers does, in spite of the fact that she herself
is suffering from bTB.

September 25th 2012 ~ "Glibly declaring that vaccination is the only answer
to the TB problem is a hopeless over-simplification of the situation and one which
ignores the facts." Richard Haddock

"...I
sense that despite the deep-seated differences of opinion which still separate them,
both the farming community and the pro-badger lobby now realise that only a comprehensive
solution delivered in the long, rather than the short-term, is going to bring bovine
TB under control. The word "vaccination" has been bandied about pretty freely with
a number of organisations, including the National Trust, opting for badger vaccination
as a method of preventing the animals spreading TB any further. If only it were
that simple."

He goes on to explain that badgers already infected with the
disease will be resistant to vaccination - and that badgers are no longer the only
vector. "In the wild, TB has spread to deer and wild boar just as inside the fence
it is now infecting alpacas, dogs, cats and, reportedly, horses." He makes a convincing
case for cattle vaccination - but of course the problems are that efficacy has to
be increased to at least 75 per cent , approval for vaccination from Europe is needed
for vital trade - and that British livestock farming has not got the five years
to wait that any of this is likely to take. Meanwhile, TB is moving rapidly across
Britain. He says that farmers are preparing themselves for TB vaccination becoming
an annual routine, but in the meantime ..."we cannot afford to sit back and do nothing."
Read
in full

September 20th 2012 ~ "Unfortunately no one wants to hear what microbiologists
have to say..."

"...
laboratory testing of the vaccine showed no protection against vaccinated badgers
getting bTB (they were careful to be sure the badgers in the lab trial were not
previously infected and had time to respond to the BCG vaccine)"

She understands
that all the vaccinated and infected badgers in the laboratory trial of vaccine
did become antibody positive by the statpak test before they were killed
for detailed study, so it is possible that the vaccination of badgers in the wild
may have slowed or even halted the progression of disease when they became infected
after being vaccinated

"...but we do not know the answer to that - the vaccine
is known to have this effect in humans too but protection against infection in the
first place has never been proved."

Like many of us, she too is very concerned
that "the only public view of the issue is always the interested parties on either
side of the badger debate arguing, both biased. They are indeed stoking up violence,
giving excuse to the extremists...People don't want to hear anything that may not
support their point of view." Her email
shows the balanced view of an informed and humane expert in pathogens, a genuine
scientist who has done some extraordinary work of wildlife conservation on her own
farm.

September 18th 2012 ~ An urgent need for unbiased and accurate information

Dr Sarah Wollaston MP (below)
explained that vaccines are not yet much of a viable tool in our fight against
the complicated bacterium causing bBT and that animals infected with the disease
cannot be cured. Knowing this, many are saddened by the frankly ill-informed and
divisive treatment of the issue in much of the media. Even Countryfile cannot be
excluded from this criticism, while a ProMed
moderator yesterday followed the undeniable statement, "Human and livestock
diseases can be difficult to control where infection persists in wildlife populations"
with some far more questionable assertions apparently unaware that far from being
killed systematically in the UK for "three decades", badger numbers have been allowed
to escalate because of the animal's status as a protected species. Farming
Today yesterday allowed the kind-hearted Brian May, now Vice President of the
"Stop the Cull Coalition", to imply that badgers in hotspots, "innocent as hell",
are being made "an unjustified target" by a heartless group "who do not try to cure
them", likening his group to Nelson Mandela faced with a "very, very violent act"
from which badgers would "never, never recover". He said he feared a "civil war"
in this country. He argued strongly for money to be poured into research for better
vaccines and - apparently unaware of the urgent dialogue already long in progress
- offered to go in person to plead with the EU (on condition that the cull was stopped)
to allow prophylactic vaccination.

"..we're not talking about wiping out badgers. We are talking about, in hot
spots, controlling the numbers." The NFU President mentioned other "difficult and
unpalatable things" that have to take place, such as the killing of rodents where
they threaten health and livelihoods, and reminded listeners that he has been working
hard in Brussels on the subject of vaccination for some time "but it isn't an "either-or".
The urgent thing, before vaccination is viable, is to reduce the reservoir of disease
in wildlife.
An email this morning from Chris Chapman seems to summarise what is needed:

"...There
is much need for an unbiased programme to air all the science, the pros and cons
of vaccination, the current position with the EU, the decimation of the cattle industry,
the history of the Badger Act and badger baiting, the arguments put up by the Badger
Trust etc. I’m amazed that it hasn’t been done."

Many of us share
that amazement.

September 14th 2012 ~ Dr Sarah Wollaston, Conservative
MP for Totnes "Over the next few months, we will see many people - particularly
celebrities - queuing up to protect the badger. I would like them to be very careful..."

Dr Wollaston spoke with compassion for the farmers she knows, who

"... work
the longest hours and never seem to take a day off or take holidays. All of us are
prone to depression- one in four of us will have it at some time in our lives -
but it is particularly difficult and risky in farmers....We all have a responsibility
to call on everyone to make it as easy as possible for farmers to come forward and
talk about being in distress..... . financial difficulties, depression and even
family breakdown ....bovine TB was at the heart of those problems.
... over the next few months, we will see many people - particularly celebrities
- queuing up to protect the badger. I would like them to be very careful about how
they talk about farmers and farming families. We know that farmers and their families
are at great risk from vandalism and direct action, and what people say can inflame
such situations..... I want to make a few points relating to that debate.

We cannot cure an infected badger through vaccination. We can no more cure an
infected badger with vaccination than we can cure an infected person with vaccination.

Treatment takes months of complex antibiotic regimes, and everyone would agree
that that is just not feasible in wildlife.

Another point is that, in regard to protecting badgers themselves, TB is spreading
remorselessly across the countryside to previously TB-free areas....
it is wholly appropriate for the Government at least to look at some of the issues
raised by the randomised badger culling trial in relation to geographical areas,
edge effects and the length of time of the cull...." Read
in full Like so many of us, Dr Wollaston supports the move to have further field
trials of vaccination, but she says "we must be realistic".

"...An oral live
bait vaccine will not be available for some time, and it is not reasonable to extrapolate
from the results of an injectable vaccine trial to an oral bait trial; they are
not equivalent. In my view, it is perfectly reasonable to have a further trial that
will consider such issues. Farmers themselves, and certainly I, will be the first
to say, "Let's not carry on with it, if it isn't shown to be effective." Nobody
is suggesting that vaccination should have a wide roll-out until we know whether
it is starting to work.
I call on members of the wider community at least to consider the other side of
this debate and the effect on farming families, and to join me in paying tribute
to the people who, as I said at the start, actually feed the nation and care for
our countryside."

Many have commented on what an excellent speech this was.

September 14th 2012 ~ Bill Wiggin in the dairy debate yesterday: "Probably no
hon. Member has taken a TB test, so I will explain what it is like...."

"It is quite easy on day one when a farmer
puts his cattle through the crush because the cattle do not know what is going to
happen. The vet comes along and very carefully and professionally gives the cattle
two injections, one for avian TB and the other for bovine TB. The cows do not think
much of that.
Three days later, the vet comes back to feel whether the bovine bump is larger than
the avian one and whether the cows have been exposed to tuberculosis. The cows do
not know that they are

going to get jabbed, so they do not want to go through the crush and will fight
to dodge it, and that, I am afraid, makes the whole process extremely dangerous.
My little boy, Jack, who is only seven, got kicked. My cows weigh 900 kilos, which
is quite a lot more than me, and when they want to go somewhere, they will go. ..."
There is an urgent need for people to recognise and appreciate the other hardships
faced by ordinary family farmers.
After dwelling briefly on how he had worked with CWIF and others in their efforts
to stop the export of live calves and how blade farming has now done a great deal
of good in providing a market for those dairy bull calves, Mr Wiggin went on to
explain that farmers are now buying their cows from France "because they are scared
stiff of having TB on their farms". If the farm is shut down because of TB the cows
will continue to produce calves and their sheds will become full. "Calves need proper
ventilation otherwise they get pneumonia. They have to be looked after properly.
The chance of a respiratory infection being passed through is increased and they
are in a real mess. Again, that is yet one more risk for the dairy farmer that is
not reflected in the price of milk.

September 13th 2012 ~ "there is considerable evidence to support the removal
of badgers in order to improve the TB status of both badgers and cattle.." says
European subgroup on bovine TB

The report of the bTB subgroup report - SANCO/2012/11191
(pdf)- is supportive of the latest efforts in the UK - highly unpopular though they
are among many in the UK - finally to start getting to grips with bovine TB. "There
has been improvement since the group last visited UK in 2009 (before EU co-funding).
In particular, the holistic approach is appreciated as well as the view that TB
in badgers must also be dealt with, alongside cattle."
The link to the pdf file is here together
with the conclusions and recommendationsof the report. While the group recognises
the need to deal with wildlife, it also stresses that the focus on TB in cattle
must be maintained.
The group shares our disappointment and concern that there is

"no scientific
evidence to demonstrate that badger vaccination will reduce the incidence of TB
in cattle. However there is considerable evidence to support the removal of badgers
in order to improve the TB status of both badgers and cattle."

and says,

"There
is a lot of skill and knowledge among the veterinary authorities and they must be
allowed time to use it.......UK politicians must accept their responsibility to
their own farmers and taxpayers as well as to the rest of the EU and commit to a
long-term strategy that is not dependent on elections. The TB eradication programme
needs continuity and it must be recognised that success will be slow and perhaps
hard to distinguish at first. "

September 11th 2012 ~ ".. it was recognised by all responsible conservation
bodies that a serious situation had arisen and with regret the ministry's action
was considered justified" - will the High Court agree with Dr Earnest Neal?

But as the Farmers Guardian says, the pilot culls, due to start in West Somerset
and West Gloucestershire in the 'early autumn'

"... could now be delayed, regardless
of the outcome of today's court case, which is likely to be revealed in a week."

See
FG article. The reader comment about the book by the acknowledged badger expert,
Dr Ernest Neal 'The Natural History of Badgers' is well worth looking at. Having
belatedly realised that the throat disease long noticed in badgers is actually bTB,
Dr Neal wrote in 1986:

"Understandably, such drastic action against the badgers
(gassing of setts) was looked upon with horror and dismay by naturalists and conservationists,
but it was recognised by all responsible conservation bodies that a serious situation
had arisen and with regret the ministry's action was considered justified"

Sir
David Attenborough wrote the foreword to Neal's book:

"This book is a summation
of all he (Dr Neal) has learned about the species .... It is likely to remain the
authoritive account of badgers for a very long time to come.... The name Ernest
Neal is linked permanently with badgers."

However, as the
FG article shows, Sir David has joined a group of celebrities backing various
campaigns to halt the cull.

September 7th 2012 ~ Owen Paterson is not known as someone who shirks a challenge,
says Farmers Guardian

"He arrives at Defra having performed well in the difficult role of Northern
Ireland and with strong, well-publicised views on many of the issues covered by
his new Defra portfolio.
There is no doubt where he stands on bovine TB, for example. As Shadow Defra Minister
in 2005 and 2006 Mr Paterson bombarded Defra with more than 500 written Parliamentary
questions on the subject as he campaigned against the Labour Government's refusal
to introduce a badger cull. .... . " Read
in full

September 4th 2012 ~ DEFRA insists that the culling plans are consistent with
the requirements of the Bern Convention on wildlife

".... 16 people - a mix of celebrities, wildlife experts and animal
welfare campaigners - say the culls should be delayed until the Council of Europe's
Bern Convention on wildlife and natural habitats has considered a formal complaint
submitted by Humane Society International/UK (HSI UK).
According to HSI UK, the Bern council has stated that it was not satisfied with
Defra's initial response to its complaint and the matter is on the agenda for the
committee's meeting in September. It is possible, however, that it will not be fully
considered until a further meeting in November, many weeks after the cull is due
to start...."

The
FG article includes the names of those who signed the open letter saying that
"... it is only right and proper that the UK Government delay the slaughter until
the Convention has considered the evidence."

August 29th/30th 2012 ~ Vaccination campaign in Somerset

A vaccination campaign has started in Somerset (
www.thisiscornwall.co.uk). It was a shock to read that the chairman of the Somerset
Badger Group, Adrian Coward, told the paper: "During field trials the vaccine has
been proved to be effective in at least 74 per cent of badgers vaccinated" even
though, in an
interview with the Farmers Guardian on June 14th 2011 James Paice pointed out
that the research paper published by Defra, seeming to suggest this 74% reduction
in TB levels in vaccinated badgers, had been "seriously misreported and misunderstood"
and had "not helped" the debate. It is worth noting that the authors
of the Chambers paper Bacillus
Calmette-Guérin vaccination reduces the severity and progression of tuberculosis
in badgers (Journal of the Proceedings of the Royal Society 2010) were very
clear:

: "It's important to realise that the 74% (73.8%) figure represents a
reduction in incidence of positive antibody tests brought about by vaccination and
should not be equated to a vaccine efficacy of 74% "

Scientific reports of
recent experimental work and badger vaccine trials are not easy to read. However,
it seems unlikely that those non-experts who speak with such confidence about the
usefulness of current vaccines have ever grappled with them. For those prepared
to try, here is a selection:

August 24th/25th 2012 ~ A court date has been set for the Badger Trust's appeal
against the legal decision to allow badger culling trials in England.

The Farmers
Guardian reports that the appeal hearing has been listed to take place at the
Court of Appeal on Tuesday, 11 September. The two pilot culls, which were to begin
in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset in the summer, will now be delayed at
least until the autumn.See below for the decision
made by Mr Justice Ouseley on 12 July, who ruled that the culling could go ahead
in England.
When on August 8th, Lord Justice Laws granted the right of appeal to the Badger
Trust, he acknowledged that Mr Justice Ouseley was "probably right" in his decision
- but added that the Trust's argument that to grant licences for badger culling,
"would prompt rather than prevent the spread of disease within an area" was "arguable"
but that the issue was "important" (See FG
8th August)
Lord Justice Laws said that neither of the Badger Trust's other two arguments was
valid.

August 24th 2012 ~ "we are doing everything we can to support and protect those
individuals that have been named."

Consternation today is reported in Farmers
Weekly after a "Coalition of Badger Action Groups" has published the names of
three farmers, details of their businesses, addresses and mobile phone numbers.
The three have been described as the organisers of syndicates that will be responsible
for culling badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire. NFU policy director Martin
Haworth is quoted: "We are very disappointed this has happened and we are doing
everything we can to support and protect those individuals that have been named."
Meanwhile in Cornwall, the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) is the latest organisation
to call on its supporters to take "any legal means necessary" which, says the "this
is Cornwall" website

"appears designed to intimidate any farmers involved".

Sadly, readers' comments seem to illustrate the gulf between those whose response
to farmers who are trying to protect their farm animals is hatred and intimidation,
and those who recognise that the real enemy is the bTB bacterium.

August 24th 2012 ~ "We can visit the moon but we can't prevent the spread of
this disease. How is this possible?"

Interesting report in Atlantic
Farm Focus of the work done by a businessman, Serge Auray, and a microbiology
expert and professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Montreal, Sylvain
Quessy, to produce an effective disinfectant to guard against pathogens. Tests have
shown that it protects against H1N1 in one minute, bacteria in two minutes, and
fungi in three.

"In comparison, standard household cleaners such as Lysol or
Clorox take 10 minutes of contact time to achieve that. And Thymox
is also non-toxic, biodegradable, and smells nice to boot."

At present, it
seems that Thymox is available only in Canada.

August 23rd 2012 ~ The new "Badger Welfare Association" asks for common sense
cooperation from all sides to "try and solve this cancer of the countryside"

There are many farmers who care about badger welfare - and who are aghast at
the suffering that bTB is inflicting on increasing numbers. Derek Mead and Bryan
Hill have set up the Badger Welfare Association to plead for a common sense approach.
The Devon farmer, Bryan Hill, has been studying badgers in conjunction with bovine
TB for 14 years. ( e.g.see below)
And as Mr Mead says

" .. it's not acceptable for society at large to have a
core of TB in the countryside - not only affecting badgers and cattle, but, deer,
pigs, sheep, cats and human beings"

And as the ever-watchful and well informed
bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk
points out, this "new farmer initiative seeks to identify unhealthy badgers" rather
than take pot shots indiscriminately at badgers who may be perfectly healthy.

"PCR
used on badger setts is now a real time test, validated (which means capable of
repetition) by three different laboratories in two countries, the research peer
reviewed and published.."

August 2012 ~ bTB in alpacas PCR Proof of Concept Study Update

The excellent www.alpacatb.org
website, now has a very encouraging report on the PCR
Proof of Concept study. (Word) This study was privately funded by many of us
to investigate the potential use for PCR technology to detect M. bovis in samples
from infected alpacas.As the website says:

"... If you are a camelid owner,
have an interest in the future of the Camelid Industry and want to help defeat bTB,
please make a donation - please do not leave it to someone else - your alpacas and
llamas need your help NOW."

The AHVLA are now keen to undertake a second phase
of tests on cases where the TB lesions are less pronounced, to investigate the level
at which detection is still possible. The second phase will only take about a month
to complete - but sadly for animal health policy in the UK, private donations are
still essential for this work to be done just as they were for the first stage.
If you have an interest in defeating this disease by means of PCR, please do visit
www.alpacatb.org

July 15th 2012 ~ What resources will be dedicated to developing a test that
allows for the rapid identification of infected badgers?

"
the first example of a multi-laboratory validation of a real time PCR assay for
the detection of mycobacteria in environmental samples..."

Progress is always
agonisingly slow - but this sort of work gives us more hope than anything else we
have seen lately. Of Northern Ireland's new approach involving testing live badgers
- vaccinating and releasing the test-negative badgers and removing the test-positive
ones - the Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister, Michelle O'Neill said:

"This
balanced approach would avoid killing healthy badgers and could lead in time to
a healthier badger population incapable of transmitting TB to cattle. . Timing of
the start of any field work is dependent on the successful completion of the necessary
preparatory actions, but I hope it will be as early as possible next year." see
www.northernireland.gov.uk

"Despite considerable
research in both Ireland and the U.K. no test on live badgers has proven efficacious
in reliably detecting TB infected badgers and thus culling remains the only method
of control currently available."

For the imaginative NI policy to work, the
use of a reliable trap-side test is vital and one can only hope that adequate resources
are being directed at what the Real
Time PCR Assay paper above refers to as "Field studies required to determine
how best to apply the assay for population-level bTB surveillance in wildlife."
See also email from Matthew at Bovinetb.blogspot.

July 12th 2012 ~ The Badger Trust's legal challenge has failed

(See the Farmers
Guardian's account). Mr Justice Ouseley delivered his verdict just after 10am
this morning.
The Badger Trust has indicated that it is considering an appeal.
The DEFRA spokesman said:

"We are pleased with the judgement. No one wants to
cull badgers but last year bovine TB led to the slaughter of over 26,000 cattle
and to help eradicate the disease it needs to be tackled in badgers.."

Defra's
counsel Nigel Pleming had argued that it "couldn't be clearer" that the purpose
of the badger cull policy was to "prevent the spread of disease".
The "Humane Society International UK" expressed disappointment at the verdict and
said its complaint to the Bern Convention was "now the badgers' last hope". The
reaction of the National Beef Association was put into words by its Assistant Director,
Joanne Pugh :

".. it would have been heartbreaking if a further delay had been
created. We cannot tackle TB with cattle measures alone, something Mr Justice Ouseley
acknowledged during the High Court proceedings. ..."

July 10th 2012 ~ Northern Ireland "the decision taken by the minister strikes
a balance between pushing forward a much needed eradication campaign and ensuring
that our indigenous badger population is retained."

"... There is no doubt that the decision taken by the minister strikes
a balance between pushing forward a much needed eradication campaign and ensuring
that our indigenous badger population is retained.
Of course, the reality is that by removing infected badgers from the countryside,
those remaining have the prospect of living longer and healthier lives.
So this is a win: win scenario for both cattle and badgers...."

In a separate
Farming Life article today, Northern Ireland Badger Group spokesman, Mike Rendle
is quoted:

" ... we believe the minister's plan is an appropriate and measured
approach to clarifying the role of wildlife in this disease...Killing any badgers
will be distasteful to many but the proposed trap-test-vaccinate/remove programme
is likely to be the most environmentally benign and scientifically valid option.
The minister has given assurances that no healthy badgers will be removed. This
announcement should not be interpreted as a green light to interfere with badgers.
Indiscriminate removal of badgers by any means, and on any scale, is an ill-considered,
high risk strategy as well as a criminal offence. These activities will only serve
to undermine the considerable investment and good faith required to make this proposal
a success"

July 7th 2012 ~ BVA's concerns about the future of veterinary laboratories in
Wales and a plea for the option of a badger cull to tackle bovine TB to be put back
on the table.

See the press
release for the British Veterinary Association. Carl Padgett is quoted:

"..
I urge my colleagues to do their utmost to support the roll-out of the vaccination
policy in the Intensive Action Area.
However, we hope the option of a badger cull remains on the table for consideration
as the TB picture continues to develop, to work alongside vaccination and cattle
measures and give us the chance to fight TB without one hand tied behind our backs"

The Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister has announced that officials will
test badgers, vaccinating and releasing those that test negative and euthanising
those that test positive.

Ulster Farmers Union president Harry Sinclair is quoted:
"It is pointless to continue with the current situation where cattle go down with
TB, the animals are slaughtered, and the farm re-stocks and eventually goes down
again with TB because the disease remained on the farm in wildlife.
Whilst the minister's announcement is a tangible step forward, farmers will be concerned
that it could entail a lengthy five-year research programme. It is our view that
the programme should be regularly evaluated and if the results are favourable then
the entire project should be rolled out across the industry...."

July 4th 2012 ~ The BVA calls for culling in Wales if vaccination is seen not
to be working

Farmers
Guardian : "The British Veterinary Association made a plea last night (Tuesday,
July 3) for badger culling in Wales to be revisited if the on-going bovine TB vaccination
programme fails to deliver.
The call came from BVA president, Carl Padgett, at the association's annual dinner
in Cardiff - attended by John Griffiths, the Welsh Government's Environment Minister
with responsibility for TB eradication.
He said a healthy future in Wales must include tackling endemic disease and top
of the priority list had to be bovine tuberculosis...." target="_blank" Read
in full

27th June 2012 ~ Many who will vote are not only uninvolved members of the public
but also will perhaps not have a very clear grasp of the painful issues involved

The Daily
Telegraph is running a poll with the headline "Thousands of badgers face being
killed illegally in TB cull". Since the Daily Telegraph must be aware that many
who will be moved to vote are likely to be members of the public unaware of the
horribly painful issues involved, warmwell readers may feel that this is an extraordinary
case of a leading question cynically looking for a politically correct answer.
Certainly, it would be a great help to farmers in Somerset and Gloucestershire if
you had a minute to vote in this poll and pass it on to others who might like to
express their opinion. You only have to tick a box.

26th June 2012 ~ "If you want to stop the spread, you have to reduce the transmission
... from badger to badger and cattle to cattle." Nigel Pleming QC

At the Judicial Review, the Badger Trust with its barrister, David Wolfe QC,
are arguing on three grounds to overturn DEFRA's decision:

that it will not meet the strict legal test of "preventing the spread of the
disease" but may in fact increase it;
that DEFRA's cost impact assessment is "flawed" and
the licensee, Natural England, has "no legal power to issue the licences" to cull
badgers.

"....The trend of cattle TB incidence in England has been
rising for 25 years and the areas infected by TB has spread. There is clearly evidence
that there is an increase in incidence. If you want to stop the spread, you have
to reduce the transmission ... from badger to badger and cattle to cattle."

Mr
Pleming DEFRA had sought to minimise the perturbation risk by a "series of measures"
which include using areas such as rivers, coast, motorways and cattle free areas
as barriers and buffers around culling.
A decision is not expected in the case for several weeks.

25th June 2012 ~ "Judge: It seems 'a little odd' to be only permitted to kill
domestic animals if wildlife animals also causing spread."

Alistair Driver is following the Badger Trust Judicial Review case today. If
you have a Twitter account, it is worth keeping an eye on @AlistairDriver
(Farmers Guardian), who is tweeting as he watches the progress of the Badger
cull Judicial Review at the High Court . At one point he writes,

adding that the Badger Trust is arguing that the
Defra impact assesssment is based on cost assumptions that might not hold true "eg
costings based on 'free shooting' in pilots but this cd be ruled out and replaced
by more expensive cage trapping." Read @AlistairDriver

23rd June 2012 ~ "It's absolutely disheartening, terrible... There is absolutely
no sense in not dealing with the diseased population of badgers."

Farming Today This Week on bovine TB
Listen again (from 2.20) on www.bbc.co.uk
We hear the Welsh Chief Vet on the badger vaccination pilot in Pembrokeshire,
information about badger culling in Ireland, how the Swiss had no infected wildlife
when they slaughtered a third of their cattle herd in the 1950s to bring
TB under control. Dr Paul Livingstone from the New Zealand animal health board discusses
the NZ strategy of killing infected wildlife: 4-6 million hectares of possum control
every year - by dropping poison from the air. He admits that there has been public
opposition to the use of a particular toxin (presumably the notorious 1080)
During the programme Anna Hill visits several farmers. One with with a closed dairy
herd, a "passion for animals" a zoologist by training. He lost 74 cows, shot last
week. The last time TB had been in the herd was 1956. He talks about the disastrous
financial losses incurred but

" ...It's not just the financial impact; it's
the emotional impact; it's the impact on me, my family, my team, my herd manager
- some of the cows that were shot last week started over 15 years ago when he started.
It's absolutely disheartening, terrible....
There is absolutely no sense in not dealing with the diseased population of badgers...
"

21st June 2012 ~ Another group...

In Prime Minister's Questions yesterday (William Hague in charge) another predictably
urgent bTB question (particularly in view of the Judicial Review, brought by the
Badger Trust, in the High Court next Monday and Tuesday) was met with another predictably
bland answer

Mel Stride (Central Devon) (Con): My constituent,
Ian Tapp, has now lost 300 cattle to bovine TB, and that scourge has been exacerbated
....will my right hon. Friend reassure my livestock farmers that, when it comes
to disease control regulations, there will be proportionality and nothing that is
likely to detract from their livelihood?

Mr Hague replied with the usual phrases;
Bovine TB a "devastating disease" , "one of the most serious challenges facing the
British cattle farming industry", "26,000 cattle were compulsorily slaughtered",
"Cattle measures continue to be the foundation of our TB control programme" - but
he added

" it is clear that those alone are not sufficient in some areas"

Mr
Stride was advised to "stand by for a further announcement tomorrow". The "further
announcement" today was to herald in yet another new " Advisory Group" - for England;
this time not called TBEG or TBAG - but TBEAG
The latest group will be a subgroup of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England
and

"brings independent experts from outside government together with the chief
veterinary officer and civil servants to make direct recommendations to ministers.."

It will meet "next month" and be chaired by John Cross, current chairman EBLEX.
(See also DEFRA
and the Farmers
Guardian)
We look forward to hearing more about the "independent experts from outside government".
( It is hard - not to say heartbreaking - to remember such similar questions and
answers from 2003 Hansard
nearly ten years ago.)

"... this marks the first time the organization has certified an antibody test
for the detection of bovine tuberculosis (TB). Based on a stringent independent
review, the IDEXX M. bovis Ab Test was validated and certified by the OIE as fit
for the purposes defined in the kit insert......offers a fast, three-hour protocol
that delivers objective, quantitative results compatible with typical laboratory
data management systems."

This is an antibody test but it is worth noting that
"its easy-to-use ELISA format requires no specialized training or handling requirements
and can be automated for high-volume use."
Interesting too that the test can make use of serum or plasma samples that have
already been collected to check for other diseases.

June 14th 2012 ~ "the first example of a multi-laboratory validation of a real
time PCR assay for the detection of mycobacteria in environmental samples."

"... the logical next step after that would be to use PCR to identify infected
badger setts.
Ex WLU staff tell us that much of the resistance to culling badgers across wide
areas using mathematical models could be negated if more confidence could be given
to the disease status of the badgers themselves. ...."

Read
in full and as Matthew drily puts it, "...Will someone please contact Brian
May, the RSPCA, Jack Reedy and Secret World. In no particular order of course, but
perhaps include Jim Paice too - his department may be interested. Or not."

June 8th 2012 ~ "To cull, vaccinate or both? What is the best way to tackle
bTB in badgers?" Alistair Driver examines both culling and vaccination

Farmers
Guardian He asks, "To cull, vaccinate or both? What is the best way to tackle
bTB in badgers?" and the article considers:

Does culling work?

Does vaccination work?

Cost comparison In the section entitled "End of the argument?" he suggests:
"....there is still the subjective, exhaustively debated, question of whether a
16 per cent expected benefit over nine years is 'meaningful' when set against the
costs, economic, ecological and, of course, political factors..." Read
in full

June 7th 2012 ~"I'm not a badger-hater, but I abhor the fact that members of
wildlife organisations have a greater say on how the countryside is run than I do.
I'm the one that lives here." David Bevan

The farmer featured in the video made by Chris Chapman "Mayday
at Heolfawr Cross" who now has to wait for two clear tests, which will take
at least four months, before he can consider restocking, is quoted in the Carmarthan
Journal

""In the end I will be left with two cows and a calf. I can't go
and be anything else. There's no way I can go out and buy pedigree cows because
the wildlife is still going to harbour a residual source of infection.
Pedigree breeding in this area is a nonsense. Why is the life of a diseased animal
worth more than the life of a diseased cow?
They're going to take out cows and leave the diseased badgers.
All around us there are farms going down. Farms that have never got TB - we are
going down like dominoes one after the other.
There are hundreds of cows that have been lost in this area in the last month. How
is it acceptable that all this money is being spent protecting an animal that is
diseased?"
As a concern, the vulnerability of the cattle and their genetics is being ignored
as is evidenced by the removal of three White Park from Dinefwr, an ancient and
historical breed connected with the history of Wales and the Princes of Deheubarth,
whose involvement in the cultural, progression and laws are noted in the Mabinogion.
This breed of cattle today number about 360 breeding females.
There are approximately 1,000 giant panda left in the world. If we were killing
three giant Panda, the world would be in uproar and yet nothing is done or said
because they're only cows. Why?
I'm not a badger-hater, but I abhor the fact that members of wildlife organisations
have a greater say on how the countryside is run than I do. I'm the one that lives
here."

June 4th 2012 ~ "As a member of the animal welfare group I am really affronted
they have done it this way and I cannot see any good coming of it."

The Western
Morning News today quotes Julie Girling, a South West Tory MEP, Conservative
chief whip and the party's agriculture spokesman at the European Parliament. The
story follows the news that the Humane Society International (HSI) has lodged a
"serious complaint" against the UK government proposals to license two trial culls
in September.

Mrs Girling, who is also
a member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation
of Animals, has told the campaigners to "butt out" of the debate over how to control
the disease and leave it to the people affected.

"These sort of things don't
help and there is no reason for the heavy hand of the EU to intervene. You have
to ask yourself how much a Danish MEP and a member from the South East of England
know about TB in the South West and those who confront it every day."

June 4th 2012 ~ "....the AHB is enthusiastic to see them play a key role in
the complete eradication of bovine TB from New Zealand."

As this optimistic article from www.voxy.co.nz
told its readers, "The questions from the floor showed these young farmers have
sound knowledge of the devastation that bovine TB can cause to farmers' livelihoods.......the
national TB control strategy ...over the next 15 years, aims to eradicate the disease
from wild animals, mainly possums, across one quarter of the country's TB risk areas."

May 31st 2012 ~ Badger cull trial is our last chance to put right decades of
inaction (WMN)

The Western
Morning News quotes Bill Harper of the National Beef Association's TB committee,
and a Cornish beef farmer.

"... TB has done more to ruin farmer-consumer relations
than any other issue. It is stoking passions and wrecking efforts to break the hold
this disease has on our countryside....Farmers do not want to eliminate the UK's
badger population - just reduce numbers in highly infected areas. They have already
invested hundreds of hours of labour in testing their cattle. Now those in the two
Badger Cull Pilot areas are prepared to finance the employment of licensed, experienced
marksmen to humanely shoot stationary badgers in these highly infected areas.
Many ask why there is no official vaccination programme. In cattle this is against
EU law. In the badger population it is simply unviable. Why? Current trapping performances
have resulted in the vaccination of no more than 25% of the surveyed badger population
at a cost of around £4,000 a badger. Also, to be effective the vaccine has
to be administered annually and it does not cure those already infected..."

May 31st 2012 ~ Christl Donnelly of Imperial College London and Rosie Woodroffe
of the Institute of Zoology, have published a paper in the journal Nature ...

"Extensive badger culls may reduce cattle TB but complex disease dynamics mean
that killing too few animals can actually increase it. However, culling too many
badgers risks local extinction, contravening the Bern Convention on the Conservation
of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Natural England, the agency monitoring
the cull, will therefore be required to set minimum and maximum cull numbers for
each licence. But the effects are difficult to predict."

We have just received
the following comment from a pedigree cattle farmer:

"I am thinking about writing
to the Bern Convention about the lack of protection of cattle.....
I have tried to get to the bottom of the whole affair reading several papers and
what I have found the most worrying is how "eminent scientists" bend their science
according to political pressure which is the result of a couple of "celebrities"
gone over the edge...
I haven't seen that Donnelly and Woodroffe have any idea about livestock diseases
other than playing with the computer. They screwed up BSE/vCJD as well as FMD and
yet they are at it again."

May 26th 2012 ~ "...cattle farmers, veterinarians, animal health workers and
public health meat inspectors. Children and infants, the elderly, immuno-compromised
persons and persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHIV/AIDS) are also susceptible"

A warning from Dr. Cedric Lazarus, Regional Livestock Specialist, attached to
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-UN) www.sknvibes.com/news
He forgets to mention people's susceptible pets.
For those concerned about wonderful campaigner Dianne Summers who, it will be remembered,
was diagnosed with bTB on April 11th (the spoligotype showing it was caught from
her own infected alpacas), an update on her difficult situation can be seen on the
alpacatb.com website - which also reports on the latest TB cases in alpacas, including
the 398 alpacas culled in a herd in Sussex (here).
There has been a great deal of media interest in Dianne's TB m.bovis infection showing,
as it does, the reality of the danger to humans of the bovine form of TB. Extract:

"....I was then put on drugs to sort out the side effects and once they had
cleared then the drugs could be reintroduced one at a time until we discover which
drug caused the problem. Btb in humans isn't a quick fix - and it isn't a case of
2 weeks of aspirin and you will be right as rain..." Read
in full (pdf)

26th May 2012 ~a "fire which is spreading ever outwards" Bill Harper

South West farmer Bill Harper spoke at the Beef Expo 2012. He is quoted by the
Farmers
Guardian. Reader comments are interesting, particularly this from "the Newt"
who once again tries to inject some hard facts and links to scientific studies into
the polarised debate by pointing out the low success rate of the BCG vaccine on
both people and animals unless they are very young

".. soon after birth mammals
are exposed to other naturally occurring mycobacterium species (that are relatively
harmless) in the wild which cause an immune response, this then causes the body
to be immune to the mild form (attenuated vaccine) of Mycobacterium bovis used in
the BCG vaccine...how do you vaccinate newborn badgers in the wild when they spend
the first six weeks of life underground? ... ."

And one reader grimly commented,
"Can the anti-badger cull lobby not see that every day that they succeed in delaying
a cull results in more infection and a more widespread and bloodier final solution
to the problem?"

24th May 2012 ~ Improved Skin Test for Differential Diagnosis of Bovine Tuberculosis
by the Addition of Rv3020c-Derived Peptides

ABSTRACT
A peptide cocktail derived from the mycobacterial antigens ESAT-6, CFP-10, and Rv3615c
allowed differentiation between Mycobacterium bovis-infected and M. bovis bacillus
Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-vaccinated cattle when used as a skin test reagent
for a "DIVA" test (i.e. a test capable of differentiating infected and uninfected
vaccinated animals). Addition of the antigen Rv3020c improves the diagnostic sensitivity
without compromising specificity in the face of BCG or Johne's disease vaccination.

Informed comment would be very welcome.

23rd May 2012 ~ New Zealand.

A retired deer farmer in the Hokonui Hills area in the South Island of New Zealand
has won an award for "leading the fight against bovine tuberculosis"

"....when
Mr Gilmour joined the committee 20 years ago there were 56 infected cattle and deer
herds in Southland, but now there were two...."

The new strategy aims to have
the area "TB-free by 2026" and would "focus on all wild animals carrying Tb, such
as ferrets, stoats, pigs and possums." See Stuff..co.nz

22nd May 2012 ~ Chris Chapman tells the Western
Morning News today that it is the increasing loss of the nation's all-important
agricultural gene-pool that concerns him most.

"What is most astonishing is the loss of genetics.
We carry on killing farm animals and compensating farmers - but what we are really
doing is watering down the genetic pool.
The loss of a champion bull is a tragedy for the farmer - but it is also yet another
vital link which has gone for ever in these important breeds.
I only put the film up on You Tube on Sunday and it's already had nearly 1,500 viewings.
I think why it's suddenly mushroomed is to do with fact that it hinges on the loss
of genetics.
Two decades ago Longhorns were rare breed cattle - but things improved and they
are now a minority breed. Now we've got a situation where we have a farmer who has
been improving this amazing breed - and winning shows - is suddenly being told today
that he will lose his whole herd."

( It is difficult not to find the tone of
the latest and related post from bovinetb.blogspot.
as entirely understandable as the facts given are true.)

May 22nd ~ M. bovis infection in badgers has been the subject of a long
term ecological and epidemiological study

This is particularly true of Woodchester
Park where the humane and careful studying of badgers, badger-cattle contacts
and of bTB infection has been ongoing for several years. Extract:

"...previous
studies have suggested that contaminated badger urine is likely to pose the greatest
risks of transmission to other species, particularly cattle (e.g. MAFF, 1979). The
observation in the present study that a similar proportion of culture positive badgers
excreted bacilli in faeces, reaffirms the potential importance of badger latrines
(see Hutchings and Harris, 1999) and faecal contamination of cattle feed and facilities
(see Garnett et al., 2002) in providing opportunities for transmission."

As
an experienced countryman wrote to warmwell this week on the subject of badger urine
and faeces spreading bTB to cattle:

"... I have been saying for twenty years
that modern farming practices and machinery were a part of the problem; forage harvesters
in silage and maze are no more than vacuum cleaners. Old fashioned knife mowers
do not pick the faeces up."

An article in yesterday's Western
Daily Press appeared to be encouraging credulous readers to believe - but without
quotation or reference - that "new research" had "poured cold water" on claims linking
badgers to the spread of bTB. Many in the thick of the misery must have considered
this article in the Western Daily Press mischievous and misleading journalism at
its most crass.(UPDATE - the story in the WDP seems to refer to esearch into the
effect on bTB diagnosis of liver fluke infestation. See BBC
which says a little more about the research but notes: "cattle who have both liver
fluke and bovine TB still test positive for bovine TB" WIth no mention of infected
badgers' high infectivity, the BBC's conclusion that the findings "will inevitably
raise anew the question of whether badger culling... is really needed" seems as
illogical and misleading as that of the WDP.

19th May 2012 ~ Quotations from yesterday's bTB debate at the Farmers Guardian

The debate was very good. Owing to the nature of an online debate with several
participants, some of the comments appeared "out of sync" The contribution of Nick
Fenwick stands out for its humanity and informed comment. (For Alistair Driver's
summary of the whole debate, see below .)
Nick Fenwick begins with an observation very close to our hearts:

"The impact
of bTB has been described by our Chief Vet as like the 2001 Foot and Mouth disease
outbreak in slow motion, and that's about as accurate a description of the problem
as you can get: It tears people's lives apart both economically and emotionally,
only the effects go on for years..."

19th May 2012 ~ FG's Alistair Driver sums up yesterday's debate

He begins by highlighting the fact that both farming and veterinary industry
leaders spoke about the "long-term, lasting benefits" delivered by the culling of
badgers in hotspots.
The Director of agricultural policy for the Farming Union of Wales, Nick Fenwick,
explained how the scientific evidence based on further analysis of the trial areas
had made a difference to the 2007 ISG report's controversial conclusion that culling
badgers could 'not meaningfully contribute' to controlling bTB. Further analysis
had "changed this to the extent that culling can now be shown to not only save large
numbers of cattle lives, but also have a net financial benefit" See
FG Summary

May 18th 2012 ~ "A MAJOR row is brewing...." Farmers Guardian

Alistair Driver in the Farmers
Guardian reports that the NFU has said that DEFRA's measures to clamp down on
movements within Sole Occupancy Authorities (SOAs) and its the decision to end all
new SOAs after July 1st was "disproportionate and unexpected" and said that Defra
had not held discussions beforehand with its livestock stakeholder group or the
Animal Health and Welfare Board for England, "repeating the poor communications
of previous TB announcements."
NFU livestock chairman Charles Sercombe is quoted:

"We don't feel the change
would meaningfully improve disease control - but will increase costs"

The NFU
has written to DEFRA saying that although farmers had been expecting SOAs to be
abolished at some point, they had expected another year's grace.
Richard Macdonald's Independent Farming
Regulation Task Force recommends that

"A simple system is likely to be more
effective; rules that are clearly understood are more likely to be observed and
the information provided more accurate"

There is now, since the SOAs enable
farmers to move animals without a six-day standstill, likely to be a surge of applications
for the very SOAs MacDonald hoped to see sensitively phased out. The apparent lack
of understanding and indeed all the tough new
bovine TB measures now imposed on the farming community - would appear to go
against what is said in the Introduction of the Macdonald report:

"We want to
move from an environment where the default is to regulate to an
approach based on trust, responsibility and partnership. Indeed, if this
does not all happen, we will largely end up back where we started!"

May 17th 2012 ~ Déjà Vu - from over 6 years ago....

Saturday January 28th 2006 ~ ".... ironic that those who attempt to exonerate
badgers of being the reservoir of TB infection for cattle show such little concern
for the suffering those badgers with TB undergo"

Warmwell.com is, and has always been, an unpaid, independent observer with no
financial interest in any of the issues covered. We watch with increasing concern
the ever increasing politicisation of bodies that should be impartial and expert.
The fact that many tough, experienced family farmers will now openly admit to being
frightened of DEFRA's bungling and bullying ways is a matter of deep worry.
Animal disease policy, now bovine TB in particular - instead of being dealt with
by vets able to inform government of observed facts - has become such a political
hot potato that, while shrill voices carry on arguing, cattle that are as yet uninfectious
are slaughtered in their thousands and ill badgers have been dying in the most unpleasant
circumstances.
One vet who has spoken out is D.J.B.Denny MRCVS. His letter in yesterday's Farmers'
Guardian should be read in full
It explains why badgers are both the victims and the villains in the spread of bovine
TB. He concludes by asking

Extract:"..... Is it hypocritical of Martin Hancox
and his ilk to allow the suffering of the infected badgers, never mind the mass
slaughter of cattle and the despair of the farmers concerned, to be further prolonged?
." read in full

May 17th 2012 ~ "Bishop calls for speedy badger cull"

See Lords
Hansard for yesterday's 5th day debate on the Queen's Speech. The Bishop of
Hereford said

".....I also feel compelled to register the continuing urgent
need for the vexed and hugely damaging matter of bovine TB to be properly addressed.
The industry and most vets remain committed to a badger cull as one of the necessary
measures to control the spread of the disease, while also supporting further work
and research on vaccinations as a critical piece of the picture. Unless the primary
wild vector is tackled, there will be no chance of eradicating this dreadful disease,
even if everything else possible is done."

Lord Patten added

"......"Bishop
calls for speedy badger cull". They will like that very much in my part of Somerset..."

May 16th 2012 ~ "The judicial review does not prevent us from continuing to
plan for an autumn start to the piloting of our badger control policy." James Paice

See Hansard
yesterday "Natural England will process any licence applications but do not
plan to issue any licences until the outcome of the judicial review is confirmed..."

May 15th 2012 ~ "Why aren't the Badger Trust being held responsible for the
spread of bTB through badgers..."

"...And paying for the consequences of their actions in stopping us from getting
to grips with the problem?" asks a reader in the comment section of the Farmers
Guardian. It follows Alistair Driver's article Farmers
must find 'innovative ways' to deal with TB budget cuts. (May 10th)
As is so often the case, the readers' comments coming from those with first hand
experience of farming and of having to endure the dread of testing - and often its
aftermath - attempt to express the frustration felt at those with no such experience
- such as someone claiming that farmers have "opened themselves and their herds
to infection"
There are excellent comments in which knowledge, reasoned arguments and references
are irrefutable - and there is also some extraordinarily strong writing that yells
its grief from the page. Recommended but heartbreaking. (Link)
See also the excellent post at bovinetb.blogspot

"........we are the butt of the same old, same old mantra. bTB is all our fault.
It is dirty farmers, lax farming practises, cattle movements and fraud which cause
bTB. Not only is this a slight on the whole of our industry but it is plain wrong."

The Farmers Guardian will be discussing the issues surrounding badger culling
and vaccination "Badgers and Bovine TB - the way forward?" in a live Farmers Guardian
web debate beginning at 1pm, Friday, May 18 on the Farmers
Guardian website.
The panel includes Gareth Enticott, Cardiff University, Nick Fenwick, Farmers Union
of Wales director of agricultural policy, Adam Quinney, NFU vice president and Warwickshire
farmer with first hand experience of bTB and Jack Reedy, Badger Trust spokesman.
More at www.farmersguardian.com
today.

May 15th 2012 ~ Jim Paice says the legal fight by campaigners to block the badger
cull will mean marksmen will not be granted licences to kill until a judge rules
on "legality".

"The judicial review does not prevent us from continuing
to plan for an autumn start to the piloting of our badger control policy.
Natural England will process any licence applications but do not plan to issue any
licences until the outcome of the judicial review is confirmed."

May 13th 2012 ~ " These cattle that have gone today, I've known them, their
mothers, their grandmothers, their great grandmothers... I feel absolutely angry
at my own impotence that I haven't been able to protect these cattle...."

"Mayday
at Heolfawr Cross" on YouTube was filmed by Chris Chapman on May 1st. The calm
and dignified despair of the farmer, Dai Bevan, sitting in his farm in Carmarthenshire,
is portrayed with extraordinary tenderness. He tells how in the past he has loved
watching the deer and badgers around the farm - healthy badgers and their cubs "rolling
down banks" - but those had been healthy badgers who were no threat to the pedigree
Longhorn Cattle who were his life.
On Mayday he had to choose which cow was to die first:

"I knew if she didn't
go first, she'd be absolutely terrified."

Those who vaguely feel that the systematic
killing of bTB reactor cows is somehow not as terrible as killing infectious badgers
might try watching this film. It doesn't take long to watch.

"...At the moment
I feel absolutely angry at my own impotence that I haven't been able to protect
these cattle. I am absolutely not in control...There is nothing I can do that will
help the situation. They haven't been killed, they've been murdered.. a group of
people that are vociferous ..their opinion obviously counts more than mine.... These
people are denying gravity, .. They're in absolute denial. Why is a cow's life worth
so much less than a wild animal?..."

As Mr Bevan so gently says, "It's wrong.
It's not decent."
The vet on the film talks of his own family's losses and the lack of support "and
even interest" in the greater part of the population for agriculture in Britain,
suggesting too that conservation groups might have their priorities skewed

"We
need food, we need wildlife; the two have to be in existence together...we run a
serious risk of losing both."

May 9th 2012 ~ A leading agricultural solicitor has hit out at tough new bovine
TB measures to be imposed on the farming community.

"Yet more legislation and bureaucracy" is the opiinion expressed by David Kirwan
from North West law firm Kirwans. See Farmers
Guardian today. Mr Kirwan said the only effect the tough penalties would have
would be to make financial conditions even more difficult for the long-suffering
farming community.

May 2nd 2012 ~ Defra has "strengthened measures" - and will reduce compensation
for TB reactors as well as make changes to cattle movements.

The changes announced today will take effect in England from 1 July 2012.
A sliding scale will now reduce compensation paid to owners of TB reactor cattle.
Compensation will be deducted by 25%when a test is overdue by more than 60 days,
50% for tests that are more than 90 days late or 95% for tests that are overdue
by 180 days. There will be a new category for young pedigree beef animals (aged
0-6 months) Dairy calved animals category (pedigree and non-pedigree) will be split
into two age bands - up to 7 years, and over 7 years.
Pedigree compensation rates will only be payable for animals with breeding potential,
and only if owners of animals have full pedigree certificates and ID documentation,
and even then only if a cattle passport is produced before the affected animal is
removed for slaughter.
An "informal" consultation on these changes was apparently held in December 2011.
DEFRA says that, from 1 July, it will not approve or renew existing CTS links or
SOAs applications if they include holdings in high and low TB risk areas.
The 30-day residency exemption will be removed, as well as revisions to the exemption
covering cattle movements to agricultural shows. High TB risk herds will have to
undergo pre-movement testing if cattle will be at the show for more than 24 hours
and/or housed or kept inside at the showground. See DEFRA
website today
Jim Paice says:

"... The farming community has shown it is willing to shoulder
its share of the burden to tackle bovine TB... .."

(He did not mention who
else was going to shoulder a share of the burden.)

May 2nd 2012 ~ Rugby to pilot badger vaccinations against TB

Rugby Borough Council has given permission to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust (WWT)
to carry out a pilot vaccination on council owned land in the borough. Rugby
Observer

May 1st 2012 ~ "I keep asking myself, am I going to be an old farmer and find
nothing is being done?"

The Western
Morning News quotes a young Almondsbury farmer whose family farm was shut down
with TB two years ago and at the regular testing ever since loses two or three cows
each time

""It's absolutely heartbreaking seeing your cows destroyed before
your eyes. My grandfather died last year without having seen this disease stopped.
For me it often seems there's no point in farming.
I keep asking myself, am I going to be an old farmer and find nothing is being done?
No one affected by bovine TB can expand or move forward."

He was talking to
James Paice who agreed that bovine TB was the biggest challenge to the Government
and the farming industry, and the cause of immense trauma and distress. Read
article

April 28th 2012 ~ Professor Chris Pollock resigns from Welsh bovine TB board
"I believe the chances of making progress have been reduced as a result of the changes
being pursued by the current administration."

Professor Pollock, the Welsh administration's former chief scientific adviser
is quoted by the Farmers
Guardian:

"... Vaccination is effectively untried so you are exchanging
an approach which has a track record of success in Ireland and elsewhere with one
not really tried at all.
...in the scientific report the Minister commissioned there was a specific comment
about the problems of using vaccination in an area where you obviously had a high
incidence of disease.
Using vaccination in the targeted Intensive Action Area, where the level of infection
in badgers is extremely high, in my view goes against the recommendations of his
own scientific review...
Bovine TB is a very difficult disease to eradicate and there is no straightforward
answer, Indeed, if there was we would not have the problems we have.
It needs concerted action on all fronts and I believe the policy of the previous
coalition Welsh Assembly Government did have a reasonable chance of gaining some
real progress.
But I believe the chances of making progress have been reduced as a result of the
changes being pursued by the current administration."

April 28th 2012 ~ "Transmission thus could occur not only to other domestic
or wild species, but also to humans.." ProMed
reports on Dianne Summers' bTB

See ProMed moderator comment. Extract: "Transmission thus could occur not only
to other domestic or wild species, but also to humans in contact with an infected
alpaca for example exhibited at an agricultural fair or petting zoo. The patient
mentioned in the above news report likely inhaled aerosolized respiratory secretions
of an alpaca with pulmonary tuberculosis.
Alpaca are thought to have been infected with Mb by contact with either infected
alpaca, cattle, or local wildlife species, or via infected milk.
In the UK, TB has affected herds of all sizes, all well as alpaca kept as pets (
http://www.alpacatb.com/).
Areas in the UK at high risk for alpaca TB are shown on a map at ( http://www.alpacatb.com/)
Read in full.

April 26th 2012 ~ One of our greatest heroines, Dianne Summers, the courageous
campaigner for camelids with bTB, now has bTB herself and has begun treatment.

Human treatment for TB m.bovis takes nine months and consists of a variety of
drugtreatments with some unpleasant side effects - it is not a quick or simple fix.
We hope Dianne will be able to recover and send her our very best wishes. It is
horrible news and confirms the danger of this disease to humans. Bovine TB blog says:

"Dianne's case underlines the reason why bTB must be taken seriously. Regular
testing of sentinel cattle while studiously ignoring their message is a dangerous
exercise...."

The post yesterday adds

" .. Public Health officials ..are
basing their assumptions on past opportunities for transmission... HPA still quantify
'risk' to bTB by exposure to 'unpasteurised milk, foreign travel and inhabiting
homeless shelters'. But exposure to the increasing amount of bacteria from 'environmental'
sources is an unknown quantity. Neither Dianne Summers nor her alpacas have been
exposed to any of HPA's "risk" opportunities ... Defra are not killing cattle for
the benefit of the farming industry. Neither is this ultimate protection of infected
wildlife anything other than a response to lobby cash....Dianne Summers is not the
first to be affected and she will not be the last." Please read
in full

April 23rd 2012 ~ English badger cull to face High Court challenge

See FWi
Caroline Stocks' article reports that a judge has told the Badger Trust that its
application for a review had been successful.

"....The permission was granted
on each of the three grounds requested by the Trust when it launched its appeal
in February:

That the culls will not meet the strict legal test of "preventing the spread
of disease" in the licensed areas and may actually spread bovine TB.

That DEFRA's cost impact assessment is flawed as it does not allow for the possibility
that the "much more costly" cage trapping could be the only culling method available,
if free shooting is outlawed.

That Natural England's guidance as the licensing authority is invalid as killing
badgers is not one of its original functions...." Read
in full

April 13th 2012 ~ DIVA test this year - but when will the EU lift the requirement
for the skin test to be the
test to confer OTF herd status?

In its September
2010 consultation on badger control, DEFRA revealed that it was co-funding a
new research project SE3270 "Development of novel diagnostic strategies for the
ante-mortem immunodiagnosis of bovine tuberculosis and Johne's Disease" Since the
BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin, the human TB vaccine) sensitises cattle to
the compulsory bTB skin test for some time after vaccination and can lead to a false
positive result, the new DIVA test was being developed that could be used alongside
the tuberculin skin test to confirm whether or not the animal really is infected.
DEFRA said in 2010, "Our aim is also to have the DIVA test approved by 2012" - but
added in paragraph 63 of the same documents that...

"....Once a licensed cattle
vaccine and effective DIVA test are available, the basis for declaring herds tuberculosis-free
will need to change.... we will be using the strong scientific and technical evidence
on the efficacy and safety of the cattle vaccine and the role of a DIVA test to
request the necessary changes to EU legislation to lift the requirement for the
skin test to be the only test to confer OTF herd status. Due to the need to change
EU legislation, which is a lengthy process, we anticipate that a cattle vaccine
and DIVA test could not be used in the field before 2015 at the earliest...."

Meanwhile,
because of the "long process" the EU apparently requires, the slaughter continues
and the misery increases.

April 13th 2012 ~ Very grim news from Scotland

The Farmers
Guardian reports today on the compulsory slaughter of 60 cattle from a fully
closed dairy herd in which no cattle have been brought in since 1988 .

"The
outbreak on the farm at Ballencrieff, Bathgate, West Lothian, has been described
as a 'mystery' and 'unclear', given the closed nature of the affected herd.... The
Animal Health Veterinary Laboratory Agency is investigating the outbreak, which
came to light when lesions were spotted by vets in a 13-year-old British Friesian
cow sent for slaughter.
Both skin and gamma interferon tests were subsequently carried out on the whole
herd, with a number of positive reactors identified in both screens...Scotland's
official TB-free status will not be affected by this case... " read
in full

Scotland has been considered a low risk area for bovine TB for
many years. The last case was in January this year. Many feel that there is no wildlife
reservoir so the source of this outbreak is a mystery at present.

April 12th 2012 ~ Update on camelid PCR testing project

See below from March 27th re
the project to see if M bovis (in camelids) can be detected by using PCR. More details
of the "PCR proof of concept study" can be seen on the www.alpacatb.com
website under PCR. The required funds for the project were raised by donations.
With congratulations to all concerned, and especially to the remarkable Dianne Summers,
we hear that the target number of samples for the Proof of Concept Study into PCR
testing for TB in alpacas has now been reached and the project can go ahead.

April 7th 2012 ~ From a farmer in Wiltshire: "Farmers are just as human (or
more so) as the rest of the population."

Re the story below about "Daisy"

"I believe the farmer's feelings in these
circumstances are akin to those of the attentive wife who has prepared a meal ready
for her husband when he comes home from work. He stays drinking with his mates in
the pub, the meal is ruined and goes in the bin. The wife has lost nothing - the
food has already been paid for, so it makes no difference financially whether it
ends up in her husband or the bin. She is not being paid for her labour doing the
preparation, so no loss there. There is no way she could be described as in love
with the contents of a plate. Now will that wife see it that way? You bet she won't,
so why should a farmer not get upset at seeing the waste of his resources, time
and effort when animals are carted off as reactors, whatever degree of affection
they may have for the individual animal. Farmers are just as human (or more so)
as the rest of the population."

(Hear hear.) We have been told that "Daisy"
was killed yesterday with her herdsman by her side, talking gently to her.

April 7th 2012 ~ "...this week they join the other 38,000 cattle victims which
Defra are happy to kill annually"

Those few of us who try hard to see the escalating bTB problem from all sides
can never forget the "on the ground" cost of the massive slaughter of reactors on
farms. Many of these doomed animals have merely encountered the bacterium and fought
it off - and this is often what the severe skin test reveals. But sometimes a story
is particularly heartbreaking. For anyone who thinks "oh, cows aren't pets" and
"they all get killed anyway", read the story on bovinetb.blogspot
about a blind milking cow and her 'old granny' companion, treated like royalty by
a big commercial dairy herd. ("Nah, that can't be right - farmers are all about
money.")

"...Last august Daisy calved again, and mothered this calf as well
as she did her first.
She wintered well with the rest of her herd mates and is in calf again. But last
month both she and her companion, 'granny' became TB reactors. So this week they
join the other 38,000 cattle victims which Defra are happy to kill annually..."

If, having read this story carefully, you don't feel anger at the lunacy of
the "policy" as much as deep sorrow for all concerned, then there is nothing more
to be said.

March 30th 2012 ~ Farming Union of Wales: "believe you have a duty to the Welsh
farming industry to explain in detail the scientific and legal reasoning which underpinned
your decision"

The Farmers' Union of Wales Press
Release says that the Welsh Government's decision not to proceed with a cull
was based on an anticipated reduction in confirmed incidences of 13.4% and that
this figure was compared with the results of computer models of the impact of badger
vaccination.
The FUW point out that

"there is currently no scientific, nor, in our opinion,
legal basis for making such a direct comparison, since the scientific approaches
used to produce such figures are wholly different" No badger vaccination trials
have been completed and supposed results depend on computer modelling - but "when
the same computer model is used to examine culling, it predicts reductions of 30
to 40 per cent."

Farmers throughout Wales, and particularly within the IAA,
"have shown a significant commitment to the TB eradication programme, and had a
reasonable expectation that a policy based upon the best predicted outcome would
be implemented in the IAA," says the FUW.
(The validity of figures given in the media for the efficacy of vaccination were
discussed at some length at bovinetb.blogspot.co.uk/
)

March 28th 2012 ~ 32,737 bovines slaughtered in 2010 as a result of the UK's
bTB policy

Those whose concern for cattle, camelids and their distraught owners is as well
developed as their concern for badgers and other potentially infected mammals are
again directed to the bovinetb.blogspot
The most recent post (March
24th) looks with worry at how badgers are being relocated fom bTB hotspots into
other areas. We learn that a voluntary protocol "not devised or approved by Defra"
(but no intervention by DEFRA either) "does not advise destruction of badgers who
have had contact with a test positive badger"
The March
17 post reminds us that in November 2011, a memorandum by those involved in
the most recent badger vaccine trials made it clear that the work to date

"…cannot
tell us the degree of vaccine efficacy"; that "A definitive figure for efficacy
could only be determined by field-testing the vaccine on a large scale over a long
period of time. Several thousand badgers would need to be killed to determine the
presence and severity of TB at detailed post-mortem examination"; and that "…we
do not know how deployment of the badger vaccine in the field would affect TB incidence
in cattle." See
letter to Welsh Minister John Griffiths from the CLA, NFU and FUW 16th March

March 27th 2012 ~ TB and camelids

Once again, we recommend the website for alpaca owners Camelid
TB Support & Research Group. One important update concerns the results of
the long awaited > Validation of ante mortem Tb Tests in Camelids; another is
a study on the Chembio Rapid Stat Pak Test which is the only blood test currently
available to herds in a Tb breakdown situation. At present this is voluntary. The
opening summary includes the following statement - which rather says it all.

"Over
95% of the animals with evidence of TB failed to produce skin test reactions, thus
confirming concerns about the validity of this method for testing SAC. The findings
suggest that serological assays may offer a more accurate and practical alternative
for antemortem detection of camelid TB"

March 27th 2012 ~ "the quicker we get all the samples - the faster we will know
if M bovis (in camelids) can be detected by using PCR".

"PCR proof of concept study" details are also on the www.alpacatb.com
website under PCR. The required funds for the project were raised by donations and
the study is at a half way point. Dianne Summers writes:

"We have half the required
number of alpacas that presented to the VLA with gross lesions. As soon as we have
achieved ALL the samples - these will then be tested using PCR and we will then
be given the results. We urge everyone to contact us if they have skin test or blood
test camelid reactors that are going to be culled. We can then make arrangements
for the samples of nasal swabs - Faeces and blood to be taken. We need to know BEFORE
the camelid is culled. Details will be held in the strictest confidence. We know
how distressing it is to have your beloved alpacas or llamas culled but this study
is so important and the quicker we get all the samples - the faster we will know
if M bovis can be detected by using PCR. A huge thank you again to all those that
donated to this project."

March 26th 2012 ~ The centre-right think tank, Bow Group, is advising the Government
to scrap badger cull plans

The Bow Group has

"unveiled a major paper urging the Government to reconsider
plans to resume badger culling in England in autumn 2012, saying the culls, an attempt
to control the spread of bovine Tuberculosis (bTB), are likely to be more costly
and less practical to conduct than DEFRA believes."

The Research Secretary
of the Bow Group is quoted as saying that the policy ".. will be costly for the
Conservatives in political terms, not least in the marginal seats in which the culling
trials are to be held."
Its paper entitled "Common Sense and Bovine TB " can be seen as a pdf
file
Dr Ruth Watkins writes

"I see the Bow group are trying to persuade DEFRA not
to cull badgers in England. I wondered if the Welsh application of vaccination in
the IAA area in North Pembs might be modified slightly to include penside testing
for antibody of badgers caught on TB infected farms.
Very few by any account would test positive for antibody (the same maker Chembio
Stat Pak for badgers) and these few could be culled. Obviously vaccination would
do these no good and they may be shedding high amounts of M bovis. Could objection
be made to culling these few identified animals on farms where there is or has been
TB in cattle? There would not be perturbation as so few would be culled. It would
address Brian May's objections to widespread culling when the majority of culled
animals would be playing no part in spread of M bovis to cattle."

March 26th 2012 ~ The president of the Welsh branch of the British Veterinary
Association says there is no evidence about the efficiency of vaccinating badgers
with the aim of eradicating bovine TB.

"....Last week the Welsh government dropped controversial
plans to cull badgers.
Bob Stevenson, who is also a former chair of the Cardiff regional TB eradication
board, told BBC Radio Wales the decision by Wales' chief vet Christianne Glossop
to back a vaccination was a change of emphasis rather than change of heart. ..."

March 12th 2012 ~ "Currently there is a serious imbalance in British wildlife
ecology, and that involves two species implicated in bTB..."

A comment that has reached us that is worth serious consideration was made last
week by someone who has read Ruth Watkins' important paper on bTB

"Currently
there is a serious imbalance in British wildlife ecology, and that involves two
species implicated in TB - deer and badger, both of which are enjoying a population
explosion. Deer are destroying much of the woodland habitat of other wildlife, and
Ruth makes passing reference to the destruction of the hedgehog population by badgers.
Actually it is worse than that as they also destroy ground-nesting birds."

These
points, with their reference to serious problems that are largely ignored and unacknowledged,
are worth bearing in mind in relation to the article by Clive Aslet, mentioned below.

March 12th 2012 ~ "Some people are foolish enough to believe that the countryside
is a wild place, where nature reaches its own balance. It isn't."

"Bovine TB is a horrible
disease. It's horrible for cattle, but equally so for the badgers who, sadly, help
spread it. My first concern is for the daily farmers who have sometimes spent generations
building up prime milking herds, only to see their livelihoods ruined ... But at
least the cattle are properly cared for - or quickly destroyed - when the disease
strikes. What happens to the badgers? They limp back to their setts, to infect other
badgers and die painful deaths. ...
Some people are foolish enough to believe that the countryside is a wild place,
where nature reaches its own balance. It isn't. There is virtually no wilderness
in this country. Everything we see is there because human beings have either designed
it, encouraged it or tolerated it.
Bill Oddie, and MPs Mary Creagh and Andrew Miller supported the Humane Society's
complaint against a badger cull at an event in Westminster last month. Adult badgers
have no natural predators other than Man..... We all love wildlife, but this is
disproportionate. ...."Read
in full

As Mr Aslet says, when an animal population becomes too big for
the territory supporting it, it usually does become diseased. He expresses great
sympathy for farmers, whose life is hard enough, but adds "I also weep for the badgers,
made to suffer horribly through the weakness of human sentimentality and foolishness
towards animals."

"The badger charity will deliver papers to the High Court
this afternoon (Monday, February 27) to initiate proceedings for a judicial review
against Defra's decision to set up two pilot culls in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire..."

While many remain unsure that the method planned to control badgers is the
best, it is hard not to be impressed by Anthony Gibson's reaction below:
"Extract

"...One always hopes that at some stage in this sorry saga, concern
for the welfare of animals will prevail... ... if they win - it will be a major
setback to disease control which will, in time, result in the illness and deaths
of vastly more badgers than will ever be humanely killed in the course of the official
cull..."

Viva's claim that hunts could be spreading bTB have been dismissed by DEFRA
and by Jim Barrington, the animal welfare consultant for the Countryside Alliance.
Mr Barrington said,

""In my 40 years working in animal welfare I have never
seen or heard of Bovine TB being spread by hunts.
The pseudo-science Viva are using is to lay one piece of evidence over another and
claim a false correlation. Farmers, government and animal welfare advocates have
spent several decades trying to combat bovine TB and in all that time no-one has
ever linked its spread with hunting.
As with so many people and groups who claim to represent the cause of animals, they
are letting their own blind prejudices inform proper research and evidence, and
in doing so are embarrassing themselves and the people who would otherwise be supportive
of their viewpoint."

This is quite simply the best paper we have seen on the vexed subject of bovine
TB. Written by an expert virologist who is not only herself a farmer of Welsh Black
Cattle but whose farm is in a TB area, Dr Watkins writes:

"I would think about
half the keepers of cattle in my parish have been down with BovineTB in the last
6 years or so, but when I first came here 11 years ago the vet told me there was
no Bovine TB in this area of Carmarthenshire..."

What follows is a scholarly
look at many aspects of the issue from the point of view of someone deeply involved
with her cattle but who has a background in microbiology as well as an up to date
knowledge of the literature.
She is able to explain the problems that have made control of the disease particularly
difficult in Britain, and she explains why vaccination is simply not as straightforward
as so many of us ardently wish it could be.
The recommendations she makes are of particular interest and should be read by all
who feel an involvement in the subject. Read the paper.

February 19th 2012 ~ Camelids, cats, pigs, sheep - and now an entire deer herd
has been wiped out because of bTB

An entire herd of 130 wild deer have been put down in the Forest of Dean. The
keeper, who is also the chairman of Gloucestershire County Council, had to go through
the heartbreak of putting down all 130 of the animals on the Priors Mesne estate,
near Aylburton, Lydney. He and his wife have now sold the estate.
He said he is reasonably sure badgers are to blame for the infection. He is quoted
in the
Gloucestershire local paper :

"What I feel about the situation is there
must be money spent by the Government on proper research, they have got to get to
grips with this because if they don't, we are in real trouble."

ProMed's recent
comment on "other species" susceptible to bTB:

"According to the annual report
of the chief veterinary officer, UK, for 2009, _Mycobacterium bovis_ was confirmed
in 19 of 52 notified deer carcasses, 18 of which were from wild deer populations,
and one case from a farmed deer. This was significantly lower than in alpacas (_M.bovis_
confirmed in 68 of 123 submissions).
In cats, 27 were positive out of 104 submissions. Out of 116 domestic pigs submitted
for TB examination, 23 were found infected. There were 9 sheep submissions, with
5 positives."

He writes in the Western
Morning News that the Badger Trust's legal challenge to two pilot culls designed
to test the effectiveness of the Government's strategy for beating bovine tuberculosis
was "depressingly predictable". Extract

"...One always hopes that at some stage
in this sorry saga, concern for the welfare of animals will prevail over headline-grabbing
emotionalism, and one's hopes invariably come to nothing.
At best - which assumes a Government victory in the courts - the Trust's judicial
review will waste a great deal of money - their own, and ours as taxpayers - without
delaying the start of operations.
At worst - if they win - it will be a major setback to disease control which will,
in time, result in the illness and deaths of vastly more badgers than will ever
be humanely killed in the course of the official cull.
As I have written before, no one is more responsible for the spread of bovine TB
through the badger population than the Badger Trust, in its stubborn refusal to
co-operate or even acquiesce in action to break the cycle of infection...."

February 15th 2012 ~ The announcement of the new EU rules was "DEFRA at its
worst" says Anthony Gibson

Until last week, the rule was that if a farm had a confirmed outbreak it could
still bring animals in, subject to a veterinary risk assessment. Now any farm under
restrictions must wait until it has had its first 60-day re-test. The intervention
by EU veterinary inspectors to force a change was simply announced quietly on DEFRA's
website. As Mr Gibson says, " there was no prior warning, no letter or even e-mail
to farmers who might be affected. Just an announcement, out of the blue, on the
website. " He offers "two crumbs of comfort".

"The first is that the change
only applies to farms which have their OTF status withdrawn. If it's suspended,
because of a failed skin test, but no lesions and a negative culture test, then
the rules haven't changed and re-stocking may still be possible, subject to a risk
assessment. The second is that it only applies to

breakdowns, so very few, if any, farmers will yet have been affected. But it won't
be long before it starts to bite.
Losing a stock bull to TB and not being able to replace him for 60 days will hurt,
as will not being able to re-stock a beef unit, or replace dairy cows.
The advice from the NFU if your OTF status is withdrawn, and you really need to
move stock onto the farm, is to talk to your vet and AHVLA, because there may be
a way round it. There's also a very good flow-chart on the NFU's website." His article
in the Western
Morning News ends with this: "I had planned to finish with the latest TB statistics,
but they've fallen victim to the AHVLA computer fiasco. That's something else that
is depressingly predictable."

Feb 14th 2012 ~ Attempts to get the EU to lift the ban on cattle vaccination

Lords Hansard "... The Minister
of State met Commissioner Dalli on 6 February 2012, when they spoke about cattle
vaccination; this time to support the Commission's draft proposals for a new EU
animal health law, which would allow the Commission, with the support of member
states, to lift the ban on cattle vaccination when the evidence and appropriate
certifications are in place. We continue to lobby hard for a change to EU legislation,
but realistically this is still several years away and we cannot be confident other
member states will agree to it."

Feb 14th 2012 ~ When will the Government expect to produce a final report on
the badger culling pilot schemes, asked Baroness Smith of Basildon

She asked "whether, and if so when and how, interim reports will be published;
and what assessments will be made of those interim reports?"
Lord Taylor of Holbeach said that

"the evaluation of controlled shooting will
be overseen by an independent panel of experts, who are expected to report to Ministers
before the end of the year. Ministers will then take a decision on whether the granting
of culling licences should be authorised in other areas besides the pilot areas,
and whether the badger control policy should continue to include controlled shooting
as a culling method. We aim to make this decision by January 2013."

Trade in cattle products is tightly controlled by Reg (EC) 853/2004 and BCG
vaccinated cattle could give false positives. Defra is working with the EU to change
the current legislation which would allow TB vaccination of cattle and use of a
test to differentiate infected from vaccinated animals (so-called "DIVA" test -
see below) to be used as a trade test.

February 13th 2012 ~The National Beef Association (NBA) is drawing attention
to a change in the TB rules which it feels many farmers do not know about

Early in February, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA)
withdrew the ability for certain TB-affected farms to restock their herds. The NBA
is concerned that some farmers don't know this yet.

" ...Specifically, when
a reactor presents lesions at slaughter, or disease is cultured in the laboratory,
the farm it came from will not be permitted to bring in stock until it has completed
its first Short Interval Test (SIT) 60 days after the reactor animal has left the
farm or been suitably isolated.
Bill Harper, NBA TB Committee Chairman, says: "The rules only changed at the beginning
of this month but we are concerned that not enough farmers know about it and could
be severely affected. Our members who have already been hit by the change have voiced
huge surprise at the goalposts being moved and we feel everyone should be aware
of what's going on..." Read
press release in full

Mr Harper says that some herds will be affected more
than others and some farmers may wish to put in a contingency plan in case they
become affected. The press
release explains in a seven point summary, what the rule change means for farmers.

February 9th 2012 ~ Badger Trust warns DEFRA of legal challenge

Jonathan Riley in FWi
"The Badger Trust ... in a letter to DEFRA on 9 February the trust said it was giving
notice of the grounds of a challenge which it intended to pursue "if DEFRA does
not set aside its decision to kill badgers in its measures to eradicate bovine tuberculosis".
The trust added that its final position on the challenge should be known by 17 February."
Read
in full

February 7th 2012 ~ Welsh decision on culling: "We are now well into February
and the term 'early in the new year' will soon no longer apply"

"....the minister has had this report for well over two months
and it is about time farmers were paid the respect of a decision on direction.
It is now eight long months since this issue was conveniently kicked into the long
grass. During that time frustrations in rural communities have been growing and
tensions rising.
While the minister buys time, farmers are paying the price. Tough but necessary
action is required on TB and more delays are not just unwelcome, they are completely
unwarranted."

February 4th 2012 ~ The grim reality: "...those too young to travel or heavily
in calf will be shot on the yard"

bTB devastation grinds on relentlessly. The Western
Telegraph reports the words of a woman farmer in north Pembrokeshire who is
going to lose at least 20 out of her herd of 50 Welsh Blacks. She wants to invite
Wales' First Minister to witness first-hand the devastation Bovine TB has brought
to her farm.

"We are not anti-badgers, but there are more of them than cattle
on the farm now.
It's unacceptable for this to carry on. It's a vicious circle, and until it's broken
north Pembrokeshire will be rife with bovine TB.
It's too late for us, but there are a lot of other farmers who could be in this
situation.
We are devastated, it's terrible. We have farmed here since the 1960s, and there
have been cattle on this land for 400 years, but we will not buy anymore. It would
be condemning any animal to death to bring it in."

31st January 2012 ~"silence from Welsh Government on this issue" is no comfort
to cattle farmers who "wake up each and every morning having to deal with the ravaging
effect of bovine TB"

"Whilst we recognise that
the decision to move forward with a badger control policy is not a universally popular
decision, this Government cannot continue to skirt the issue. Governments are elected
to make the tough decisions that ensure the people and industries they represent
can prosper. The silence from Welsh Government on this issue is resulting in this
Government losing the respect of all cattle farmers and their families who 12 months
ago had real hope that bovine TB could, by working jointly with Government, be eradicated
from Wales."

Mr James spoke of the growing financial and emotional strain involved
in trying to adhere with "increasingly complex and costly cattle control measures."
Without a concurrent strategy to tackle the disease in wildlife, he said, little
can be done to curb and eventually eradicate the disease. The Minister received
the report of the scientific review group in early December. (See
also below)

The Archers - for reasons that can be readily understood - have been shown by
the writers to take the Gloucestershire Wildlife Report on Vaccine
Deploymet Programme (pdf) very seriously and to vote for vaccination. Listen
again Oliver, in addition to arguing against "locking up cows" at the meeting
about the new dairy, talks passionately about vaccinating badgers against bTB

"..then
the badgers are vaccinated, stock marked and released. Traps are reset and re-baited
that evening after three pm. Traps are revisited next morning between 4 and 8 am.."
"...Oliver swung it. He turned it around".
(Mike remains unconvinced.)

As we say below, even those most expert in badger
vaccination as it now exists, would not ever suggest that it can eradicate bTB in
badgers. However, the www.brockvaccination.co.uk
points out that what it does do is act "to address the long term disease dynamics
of your land....With cage trapping we can catch most of the social group simultaneously
and vaccinate them with a set dose of vaccine." (See also below)

23rd January 2012 ~ 48% of farmers surveyed thought that vaccination was a good
thing to do, but only a quarter believed it would help prevent the spread of bTB

The Farmers
Guardian reports on research carried out by the Countryside and Community Research
Institute (CCRI) and Cardiff University. It shows that of 341 farmers surveyed during
the autumn of 2010 in five areas of England (in Devon, Gloucestershire and Cheshire),
including the Gloucestershire area of the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (BVDP),
48 per cent, thought that vaccination was a good thing to do, but only a quarter
believed it would help prevent the spread of bTB.

"Less than a quarter of farmers
thought Defra could manage vaccination competently, while a third thought that the
Government's scientific case for badger vaccination lacked credibility.
The vast majority (89 per cent) believed that it was not their responsibility to
pay for vaccination.
... The majority of farmers (52 per cent) did not think the Government were doing
a good job in relation to bTB policy, while 80 per cent believed that bTB policy
was too influenced by the general public, as opposed to veterinary or agricultural
specialists.
Nearly half, 46 per cent, did not believe bTB policy decisions in general to have
been "fairly made" ...
...most farmers were pessimistic about their ability to do anything to avoid bTB
restrictions - 79 per cent said that it was simply a 'matter of luck' if their cattle
became infected."

As we say below, although the www.brockvaccination.co.uk
team would be the first to admit that at present, badger vaccination is no silver
bullet, what it does do is act "to address the long term disease dynamics of your
land....With cage trapping we can catch most of the social group simultaneously
and vaccinate them with a set dose of vaccine." (See also below)

20th January 2012 ~ "I understand that residents in these areas may have views
on the proposal to cull badgers..." Caroline Spelman

(Hansard)
"and, as part of its assessment, Natural England will provide the public with an
opportunity to comment on the applications.
However, those undertaking licensed activity, and those living and working within
the application area, must be protected. Therefore, we do not propose to make available
any further information at this stage about the exact location of the pilot areas.
We expect Natural England's decision on whether or not to grant licences to these
two areas to be made in the spring.
An independent panel of experts will oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the
pilot areas and report back to Government.
... Professor Christopher Wathes has been appointed chair of the independent panel
of experts. Professor Wathes is a professor of animal welfare at the Royal Veterinary
College and the current chair of the Farm Animal Welfare Committee. Other members
of the panel will be appointed shortly..."

January 19th 2012 ~ Locations confirmed

" two carefully selected areas, West
Gloucestershire and West Somerset, to submit applications to Natural England. Natural
England will assess the applications against the strict licensing criteria and decide
whether or not to grant licences..."

They were selected from a shortlist proposed
by the farming industry itself, as the most suitable to run pilot schemes for the
controlled shooting of badgers. The pilots are expected to take place over a period
of six weeks in early Autumn 2012. Jim Paice is quoted on the
Farminguk. website:

"...Nobody wants to cull badgers. But no country in
the world where wildlife carries TB has eradicated the disease in cattle without
tackling it in wildlife too..." Read
in full

See also Telegraph
and
Vetsonline
(Farmers and landowners in any areas who feel they would like to use badger vaccine
to lower potential incidence of the disease can contact www.brockvaccination.co.uk
The team there are the first to admit that at present, badger vaccination is not
a 'quick fix' solution to the TB disease problem but that it does act "to address
the long term disease dynamics of your land....With cage trapping we can catch most
of the social group simultaneously and vaccinate them with a set dose of vaccine."
(See also below)

January 17th 2012 ~ Bryan Hill, who says "a cull of exclusively diseased animals
would very swiftly reduce instances of bovine TB in cattle" has been in talks with
the Badger Trust

Bryan Hill is the badger expert who worked closely with Chris Chapman on the
DVD "The Way
Forward". He demonstrates an extraordinary ability to pinpoint the location
of those setts that actually do have bTB. Those are the only setts he would like
to see cleared out. He says,

"...just because a badger is protected, would you
let it go out and suffer unreasonably?" and "if we are advised to wear a face mask
and gloves, to handle them when they are dead, how much worse is it when they are
alive? They are passing on a disease which causes suffering and are starved into
a slow death". (See more at bovinetb.blogspot.com)

Chris Chapman said that the aim of that DVD was to

"educate the public
on the tragedy of this disease and to try to bridge the gap between the farming
industry, wildlife groups and a largely ill-informed public....the simple fact is
that Bryan Hill's strategy works and there are many out there who will give testimony
to this"

Mr Hill is deeply concerned that the perception of seeing farmers
as "the enemy" has got worse. He has visited well over a thousand West Country farms
to help them identify infected areas and setts and he insists that a cull of exclusively
diseased animals would very swiftly reduce instances of bovine TB in cattle - and
would also be far more acceptable to the public.
He has been in talks with the Badger Trust and told the Western
Morning News

"They were very positive and we now have a far better understanding.
In fact there was only one real issue that divided us. I, as a farmer and countryman,
want to manage the disease situation - while the badger lobby believes if you don't
do anything about the badgers the situation will sort itself out."

He is certainly
doing everything possible to explain that culling cattle and doing nothing about
the diseased wildlife is, for the badger population itself, the worst possible situation.
(Read article at WMN)

January 16th 2012 ~ Cameron on Countryfile

The iPlayer link is
here and the interview with the PM on the badger cull and bTB begins at 16.15mins
into the programme. It will disappoint many that there is no mention of vaccination
for either badgers or cattle.
( Is our information correct that it was James Paice who, at the time of the Oxford
Farming Conference this year, suggested to journalists that TB cattle vaccine could
be "in the lab within a year" but that another year for testing would be needed
as well as getting the EU to change its mind about approving TB vaccination for
cattle? It is the daunting but long overdue task of getting the EU to change its
stance that will be the real game-changer. )

January 14th 2012 ~ David Cameron: the cull will be "controversial, it's going
to be a difficult thing to do."

In an interview on Countryfile (for Jan 15 at 7pm on BBC1), Mr Cameron says
that the cull will be

"...difficult to police, difficult to carry out, there's
no end of difficulties...the question we faced as a Government is when you've got
all this evidence that culling should be part of - only part of - a balanced package
of measures, do you just sweep it under the carpet and announce another review?
Or do you say, "OK we need to get on and see if we can make this work?"
We've taken the difficult decision and I think that's the right thing to do.." Sources

Mr Cameron said that those protesting against the decision to cull badgers
were forgetting that badgers too are suffering from the "terrible" disease. A correspondent
in America makes what we feel is a very valid point about the fact that the media
always illustrate their bTB articles with photos of healthy badgers:

" It looks
like there may finally be a (limited) badger cull. The two reports seem fair enough,
but why does the Telegraph have to use a photo of a cute, heathy badger rather than
a diseased one? That is not fair."

January 14th 2012 ~ "my two best cows... Not many left now..It is horrible..."

As for the affected farmers, one wrote to warmwell.com:

"....pre-movement
testing to sell cows 'to live' threw up a reactor, so she 'went to the Government',
visible lesions found in her carcase so two cows who had tested IR shortly after
the reactor had gone have now been reclassified as reactors and went off to the
Govt abbattoir to-day - my two best cows... Not many left now..It is horrible, a
lot of farmers here are in the same boat, some closed down for years.. it may be
that we have, collectively, gone barking mad - turning our backs on any notion of
stewardship in favour of cuddly animal fantasies. I do not know, but I do know that
I find the complexities of Btb more than I can get my head round, at the end of
a long day etc, etc. ..."

(The writer is a farmer who cares very much for all
his animals and wildlife. He generously added that the local DEFRA staff at Worcester
had been " incredibly helpful, sympathetic, and quick acting".)

January 11th 2012 ~ "Boxster's Story - The Truth Behind The Lies"- the book
will soon be out.

Visit www.boxstersstory.co.uk/
for details. DEFRA
"argued in court its breach of procedure was trivial and irrelevant. And it continued
to hope and believe it would be proved right in the long run. This story tells the
highs and lows faced by the family, the tears and laughter and the truth behind
the lies..."
( See warmwell archive of the Hallmark Boxster
story from 1st September 2010 until the announcement of the publication of Kate's
book in February.)

January 7th 2012 ~ NFU supports badger TB vaccine which, although it will not
cure an infected badger, helps to control the spread of the disease.

The Shropshire
Star reports on the NFU fear that "Bovine tuberculosis is spiralling out of
control and is now one of the biggest threats to Shropshire's beef and dairy industries"
The statistics are deeply depressing

"In 2010, some 2,165 Shropshire cattle
were slaughtered to control the spread of the disease, compared to 473 in 2003.
Although the full figures for 2011 are not yet available, 1,362 cattle were slaughtered
between January and August. During that time 1,981 tests were carried out on herds
in the county, with 371 herds placed under restriction."

Shropshire NFU spokesman
Oliver Cartwright is quoted:

"Badger control is regrettable but absolutely necessary
to break the cycle of infection and if the disease continues to run unchecked in
wildlife there will be thousands more cattle and badgers infected.... this is not
about eradicating badgers it is about controlling disease in specific target areas
where the level of TB is persistent and high"

Adding that the NFU does support
vaccinating badgers but unfortunately, an oral vaccine that can be left for badgers
to eat is still a long way off. "While we wait for vaccine developments we need
to address the disease nightmare that Shropshire cattle farmers currently face."

January 5th 2012 ~ Concern expressed about violent public protest

On the subject of badger culls , Farmers
Weekly reports that at Oxford yesterday Mr Paice said the government and its
badger cull licencing body, Natural England, would not announce where the culls
were being held - but that " it was impossible to prevent the public from learning
where the trials to shoot badgers would be held." He added

"We believe the science
is clear, these trials are about testing the efficacy, humaneness and public safety
of shooting to reduce the badger population by 70% [within cull areas]. We think
it's necessary."

"Farmers already shoot foxes and
rabbits at night safely. The fact that areas won't remain secret is no reason for
farmers not to take part in a cull trial either".

John Royle, the NFU's chief
farm policy adviser, is quoted in the Farmers
Guardian. He said that DEFRA's estimates of costs were inaccurate and that a
typical farmer with 180 cattle would pay the company formed to administer the cull
about £850.

"That's two-thirds of the price of a TB reactor saved. Everybody
we have spoken to is more than happy with the costing"

January 4th 2012 ~ James Paice tells Oxford that there might be a viable cattle
vaccine within 6 years

We are waiting to see a transcript, but Jim Paice has told journalists at the
Oxford Farming Conference that TB cattle vaccine will be in the lab within a year;
then another year for testing will be needed. EU approval for TB vaccination for
cattle will be needed, of course, but it seems that Mr Paice seemed optimistic.
More asap.
UPDATE In fact, the transcript of the Minister's formal speech (here)
shows that it concentrates on food production and exports.

Jan 3rd 2012 ~ "Badger vaccination is not a 'quick fix' solution to the TB disease
problem, however it acts to address the long term disease dynamics of your land."

The website www.brockvaccination.co.uk
has published a list of questions and answers about badger vaccination, mainly aimed
at farmers. It does not seek to make any false claims - either about the role of
badgers in spreading bTB in hotspots, or that vaccination is in any way foolproof.
It reminds readers that "the possibility of a usable oral badger vaccine is still
many years away." It does not deny that badgers can be stressed when trapped.

"
abrasions on foreheads and forelegs have been noted, however the majority of animals
trapped are not visibly distressed; we arrive very early in the morning and often
the badgers are asleep. Badgers are injected with the BCG vaccine, then released
after being clinically observed, clipped marked and sprayed."

The page is aimed
at those who might want to try vaccination on their land. There is a contact number
and email address "The cost of vaccinating the badgers on your land is influenced
by many factors, such as the size of your land, the density of badgers present,
and the ease of access to the traps we deploy. The initial survey we undertake allows
us to calculate the likely cost, based on the above factors."

Dec 19th 2011 ~ Minister Jim Paice will be live on FWi web chat today

He will have the unenviable task of answering questions about this week's badger
cull announcement. www.fwi.co.uk
One may submit questions up to 10 a.m. and a full transcript will be available as
soon as the session has finished: Questions may be emailed to rachel.jones@rbi.co.uk

Dec 19th 2011 ~ NBA and CLA both welcome the announcement

CLA statement

": Once again, the Government has shown it is completely committed
to supporting the eradication of bovine TB. This dreadful disease will cost England
more than £1billion over the next decade, with hundreds of thousands of cattle
dying needlessly, if nothing is done.
The CLA backs a controlled cull, carried out by farmers and landowners, as part
of a science-led, well-managed and sustained bTB control policy. Badger culling,
bTB testing, cattle movement control and removal and slaughter of infected animals
are all essential tools to tackle the disease."www.cla.org.uk

TheNBA statement:

"We congratulate Mrs Spelman and her colleagues within
Defra for moving this forward and creating a structure that allows this work to
be done legally and effectively. We hope this will set an example to some of the
devolved governments that have a TB problem but are not addressing the reservoir
of disease in wildlife.
While it is with regret that some badgers will be removed, populations have exploded
in many parts of the UK and it is impossible for the cattle industry to get a grip
of TB without looking at the wildlife element too.
Farmers want to see badgers on their farm and the NBA believes these control measures
will ensure those badgers are healthy, which will also ensure a healthy and thriving
cattle population too." (www.meatinfo.co.uk

"It will take some time - many years - before we can
finally assess the effectiveness of the vaccination trial in Gloucestershire, but
I went and saw it for myself and, as much as anything, it was about the practicalities
of trapping and caging the badgers prior to injecting with the only vaccine that
is available. There are considerable practical difficulties with the procedure,
but today I have tried to make available a fund to help those voluntary groups that
want to participate in the vaccination programme."

Mrs Spelman told the House
of Commons that "An independent panel of experts will oversee and evaluate the pilots
and report back to the Government, and we will then decide whether the policy should
be rolled out more widely.
This has not been an easy decision to make, and it is not one that I have taken
lightly. I have personally considered all the options and evidence, and at present
there is no satisfactory alternative." Caroline Spelman's statement setting out
"the next stage in the bovine tuberculosis eradication programme for England" was
met yesterday with question after question. Read
in full

Dec 14th 2011 ~ "... Overall, the findings suggested that intensively managed
dairy herds were at greater risk of bovine tuberculosis outbreaks than were other
herds."

"....what consideration did the
Secretary of State give to reducing the trend towards increasing intensive dairy
farming? Around 80% of bovine TB transmission is thought to be caused cattle to
cattle and that happens far more easily in crowded conditions"(Hansard)
Caroline Spelman replied that there was no evidence of links. However, in a policy
document called "A sustainable strategy for tackling TB in cattle and badgers" the
Soil Association made a plea (pdf) for official policy to move beyond polarised
debate and "stamping out" disease and a greater concentration on health. They suggested
that the theory that bovine TB may be more closely correlated with the husbandry
system and thus animals' susceptibility, rather than just exposure to the pathogen
per se, be seriously considered. The UK Agriculture Select Committee cited
such research in 2001, suggesting that improvements in animal husbandry could be
indeed significant in reducing bTB See: Griffin JM, Hahesy T, Lynch K, Salman MD,
McCarthy J, Hurley T, 1993,
The association of cattle husbandry practices, environmental factors and farmer
characteristics with the occurrence of chronic bovine tuberculosis in dairy herds
in the Republic of Ireland, Preventive Veterinary Extract:

"... Overall,
the findings suggested that intensively managed dairy herds were at greater risk
of bovine tuberculosis outbreaks than were other herds."

Dec 14th 2011 ~ "Anyone who thinks farmers will be celebrating after receiving
the green light for a badger cull to combat bovine tuberculosis should think again."

Johann
Tasker's Blog today attempts the almost impossible task of trying to inject
some cool balance into the issue. As he says, it is important to remember that "farmers
are not anti-badger, they are anti-TB. And they believe a cull is the least worst
option in trying to eradicate the disease."

Dec 14th 2011 ~ the pilots will monitor the humaneness of the controlled shooting
method

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association
(BCVA) support today's announcement. They have argued that bTB can only be successfully
challenged if the disease is tackled in wildlife in addition to the very strict
measures imposed on farmers to control the disease in cattle.

Dec 14th 2011 ~ "Much has been said about the cull, accurate and inaccurate"

The NBA has clearly set out the basics:

Just two licences will be granted for 2012.

Defra has asked the industry to work together to present a shortlist of suitable
areas, a change from the original plan to allow all farmer-groups to apply. The
NBA is working hard with the NFU and others to put forward a shortlist of four or
five areas.

Defra will select two areas that it feels best meets the licence criteria, which
it will pass to Natural England to grant licences to.

It is unlikely that Defra will select two adjacent areas, as two distinctly
separate areas are likely to stand up better to scrutiny when the pilot is reviewed
by an independent panel next autumn/winter.

Requirements for the areas include being a minimum of 150 square km, comprising
solely of annual testing parishes and having good physical boundaries to reduce
badger movements in and out. Permission must be obtained from farmers and landlords
in the area to grant access to a minimum of 70% of the land, and the licence applicants
must have the finances in place to carry out the work.

The NBA has made it very clear to Defra that, in order to give access to their
land, farmers and landowners must not feel they will be at risk of retribution from
badger lobbyists and similar activists. The NBA is working hard to ensure this remains
a priority for Defra and Natural England and is positive about recent discussions.

The licence allows the approved areas to carry out a six-week cull each year
for four years, always within the open season. The open season is June 1 to November
30 for cage trapping and shooting and June 1 to January 31 for shooting. All shooters
must attend a Government-approved training course before they can participate in
the cull.

The "impact assessment" published today includes an estimated policing cost
for the first two areas. This bill will be picked up by Defra, who will have it
independently reviewed to ensure all costs are specific to the cull and are in addition
to normal policing activity.

Cage trapping and vaccination is permitted from May 1 to November 30 and can
be carried out in conjunction with the cull, for example in the 2km "buffer zone"
surrounding the licenced area. Some restrictions apply and specific time frames
are recommended by Natural England.

In the first year, the number of badgers culled must reduce the population by
70%. Once this has been achieved, culling in subsequent years will be to maintain
the level.

At the end of the open season an independent panel will review the safety, humaneness
and effectiveness within the two areas. This will not be a scientific review and
will not consider disease incidence, as an immediate drop in cases is not realistic
in the first year.

If the cull is considered to be safe for humans, humane for badgers and effective,
10 more licences will be granted each year from 2013-2015, before another review
is carried out. # It is hoped that once Defra has weathered the judicial reviews(s)
and the first two areas in England proceed, Wales will be able to move forward from
its judicial challenge and scientific review. The NBA also hope DARD will look closely
at what is being done and if something similar could benefit farmers in Northern
Ireland.

Dec 12th 2011 ~ "Kate was amazed at the number of ways in which the existing
ramshackle system might get it wrong.....Pinches vary. Animals vary..."

"cost £124,000 in legal
fees to get the all-clear Ken always predicted, plus 18 months of lost business,
plus time at the High Court and the stress of doing all that on a remortgage and
an overdraft. Defra offered £90,000 and he has now settled for it, rather
than go back to court."

Since the Jackson's daughter, Kate, used to be a lab
technician she knew how easily a blood sample could be spoiled

"..she led the
attack on Defra's insistence that there was no reason to doubt its test on Boxster.
Technicians had had difficulty getting a sample and had mixed two.
On the way to proving this was a serious error, Kate was amazed at the number of
ways in which the existing ramshackle system might get it wrong. For example, the
'skin test' for TB, on which so much depends, amounts to the difference in the bumps
made by two pinches of flesh - one before an injection of sterilised TB culture
and one after. Pinches vary. Animals vary. Kate is writing a book explaining how
they came to doubt almost everything the vets said was certain.

"One thing I
am sure of is they should be taking a long hard look at the whole system."

It
is good to know from the
article that "there should be calves next spring as an entirely natural consequence
of Boxster's exuberant return to the herd in August."

Farmers' Union of Wales president Emyr Jones has written to the Welsh Assembly's
"Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development", John Griffiths, expressing
"extreme dismay" that the decision is being delayed yet again.

"These continued
delays are a betrayal of the Welsh farming industry's commitment to a holistic approach
to controlling bovine TB."

A decision is not now expected until early 2012
despite there having previously been a commitment to making a decision in the autumn.

"The farming community has acted in good faith since the commitment in 2008
by the previous administration that an holistic bTB eradication programme would
be pursued. Nowhere is this more true than in north Pembrokeshire, where heightened
cattle controls in anticipation of a badger cull have necessitated a complete restructuring
of many farm businesses and significant increased financial and emotional pressures
for all cattle keepers."

The reaction of the Badger Trust is given in the
Farmers Guardian today. Shadow Rural Affairs Minister, Antoinette Sandbach,
is also quoted:

"The Minister has had six months to make a decision on TB eradication.
Welsh farmers have waited patiently, but it seems the Minister is in no hurry to
tackle this disease and appears willing to try every delaying tactic in the book.
Should we now expect further delays to be announced in January, or maybe a lengthy
consultation exercise? The Minister may be buying time with these delays, but it
is the farmers who are paying the price. I am deeply concerned he is putting politics
before the interests of animal health."

Dec 9th 2011~ When in doubt, spend £871,000 counting badgers

"The government says obtaining an estimate of the current
size of the badger population will help inform policy on badgers... "

The last
National Badger Survey of Great Britain was completed in 1997 and confirmed that
badger numbers have increased substantially. Apparently, DEFRA feels the need for
a new survey covering the same ground. It will run until 2013 at a cost of £871,000.
See also DEFRA
website.

Dec 7th 2011 ~ Wales. No announcement on culling until the early months of next
year.

"...It is clear they have decided on a course of action and
yet the Government refuses to make an announcement. Firstly we were told we would
receive an answer 'by the autumn'. We asked the Minister to make his announcement
before the Royal Welsh Winter Fair and again we were let down. Then we were told
'by Christmas'. Now we are being told that it will be at an unspecified time in
the first months of next year. No reason has been given for the delay and all the
while there are Welsh farmers who are losing cattle every day to TB.."

December 6th 2011 ~ Compensation for pedigree cattle. What are the real figures?

The vexed question of "compensation" has been raised again. This time (yesterday)
Neil Parish Hansard
asked DEFRA about the apparent anomaly of farmers in England receiving more
compensation for non pedigree animals compulsorarily slaughtered. This was a point
raised previously by Mr Parish on October 18th (Hansard
) when he spoke of

"the problem of pedigree cattle being taken out of England
that are under tabular valuation. Those over 36 months old receive less compensation
than non-pedigree cattle, and many farmers in Devon have to go to markets in Somerset
and compete with Welsh farmers who have received huge amounts of compensation. It
is necessary to get the valuations right."

Mr Paice's reply merely summarised
the notes apprearing below DEFRA's
compensation tables saying that compensation for most TB affected cattle was
"determined objectively through table valuations which are true average open market
prices for same category animals." Sales data is collected from "a large number
and wide range of sources" and that apparently, "a higher compensation rate for
non-pedigree cattle (in the same category) will be a reflection of the underlying
sales data."
However, DEFRA's table for Nov 2011 pdf does not suggest
to us that the anomaly mentioned yesterday has been the case for some time. (We
should appreciate guidance here.) It might be thought odd that Mr Paice himself
appears to be unaware of the contents of the most recent tables and was thus unable
to reassure Mr Parish on this point. Is the Department not given prior notice of
written questions for its Minister and thus able to brief him accurately?

December 6th 2011 ~ William Bain MP asked DEFRA "what new scientific evidence
has emerged since the Bovine TB Eradication Group for England issued its report
on Developing a Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England in October 2009."

Mr Paice: There is a large amount of ongoing research into the epidemiology
of TB and the development and evaluation of potential methods of controlling the
disease, both within DEFRA's research programme and through other funding sources
(such as the research councils) and new evidence is constantly becoming available.
A significant source of new evidence on culling badgers comes from the ongoing monitoring
of TB incidence in the areas of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial. Ongoing monitoring
since the end of the RBCT shows that the positive effect of culling on herd breakdowns
was maintained for at least 5.5 years after culling stopped and that the negative
effect on confirmed herd breakdowns on surrounding land disappeared by 12-18 months
after culling stopped. When cattle TB incidence figures from the period after culling
are included, the benefits of proactive culling are greater than those observed
during the trial itself."

This written answer suggests what the expected decision
about culling will be.

November 29th 2011 ~ A voluntary passport sticker scheme for cattle is being
introduced in Wales to help farmers and buyers identify when animals last had a
clear TB test.

November 29th 2011 ~ Wales "Farmers are in limbo... having to watch valuable
cows being destroyed, many of them needlessly." AM Angela Burns

In Wales, the Science Review Group's report into badger cull has still not reached
the office of the Welsh Environment Minister, John Griffiths. The Welsh Shadow Minister
for Rural Affairs, Antoinette Sandbach, says: "When the minister finally gets sight
of this report, it will be almost six months since he kicked the cull into the long
grass. During that time frustrations over the delay have got worse and worse." See
WesternTelegraph
In England, the decision whether or not to implement a badger cull in the hotspot
areas is expected to be unveiled in little more than three weeks. Two trial badger
culls are planned next year in south-west England, where bovine tuberculosis is
most acute. See below.

November 24th 2011 ~ Badger cull decision is expected to be in about three weeks

Farmers
Weekly says that the NFU remains "hopeful" that a pilot badger cull in England
will be given approval

"We are anticipating a positive announcement and in preparation
for that, we have been preparing areas, mapping and meeting farmers and discussing
policy."

Jim Paice said a decision would be made before Christmas, but Farmers
Weekly understands that an announcement could be made in the week before Parliament
goes into recess on Tuesday 20 December.

The
Independent reports today that police forces could be overwhelmed by protests
about the badger cull.

"Officers already face budget cuts...Given the difficult
nature of policing this initiative, the steps forces are taking to respond to new
financial pressures and the proximity of this initiative to other competing priorities...
forces will find themselves under huge pressures to manage even small but sustained
campaign activity, particularly where that includes unlawful direct action and subsequent
criminal investigations."

DEFRA told the Independent that no final cull decision
has been taken yet. (While sympathising with anyone who detests blanket culling,
one does rather wonder where all the animal rights protesters were when official
policy in 2001 was to exterminate literally millions of animals and their young
susceptible to FMD when - as is

the case with bTB - a tried and tested vaccine was readily available, as was on-site
testing to determine if suspect animals really were infected.)

As the
FWi reports today, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency's system
has broken down and vital paperwork approving the movement of cattle has not been
sent. Although applications for export health certificates are now being processed
and consignments of calves in low TB incidence areas being able to move, calf exports
from high TB incidence regions are not being processed. The AHVLA is an executive
agency of DEFRA. A pedigree beef farmer in Devon, quoted by Fwi,
points out the illogicality of the present bureaucracy

"I've got two reactor
cows which I want to get off the farm as soon as possible. But AHVLA said it was
likely to be three weeks before they could be slaughtered. We've got complete traceability
so why can't they just take them?"

November 15th 2011 ~ The NFU and Badger Trust agree a joint project in which
the badgers will be vaccinated on two farms owned by NFU members.

"NFU chief farm policy adviser John Royle and Badger Trust director
Simon Boulter have agreed a joint project in which the badgers will be vaccinated
on two farms owned by NFU members.
In addition, the Badger Trust has identified five other landowners around the UK
wishing to vaccinate badgers and is working independently with them as part of the
initial trial project.
Vaccination on all seven farms started in October after surveys were carried out
to identify active badger setts and licences have been granted by Natural England.
The vaccination project will run until the end of November 2011 and resume in May
2012.
It is hoped that the two programmes, although small in scale, will help to identify
whether the injectable vaccination of badgers is practical and cost effective."

November 14th 2011 ~ Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control - DEFRA has no plans
to formally register or license camelids.

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs whether her Department plans to introduce registration and licensing
for camelids. [74629] Mr Paice: DEFRA has no plans to formally register or license camelids.

November 13th 2011 ~"...the potential for treating even the most serious diseases
like TB with trace elements is being ignored by the authorities."

We are particularly grateful to Christine Ball of the British Goat Society who
sends this most interesting response to a talk by ex-colonel Danny Goodwin-Jones,
given during their Autumn Conference on Nov 12th hosted by the Gloucestershire Goat
Society.

"One of the speakers was Mr Goodwin-Jones, director of the Carmarthen
based Trace Element Services Ltd. His talk was inspirational and fascinating. The
importance of trace elements to all livestock & indeed to humans cannot be underestimated.
But it seems the potential for treating even the most serious diseases like TB with
trace elements is being ignored by the authorities. Mr Goodwin-Jones spoke about
the soil and how much of it is ruined by ploughing too deep. This affects all grazing
animals and crops grown on deficient land. Many areas in the UK are naturally deficient
in various trace elements, but soil can be analysed and treated to replace essential
elements. This can reduce vet bills and the need for fertiliser. Animals are healthier.
This made a great deal of common sense to me and I cannot understand why the authorities
have so far taken little or no interest in this." Christine Ball. BGS Overseas Representative.

We have been interested in Danny Goodwin-Jones' views for some time. See recent
posts

November 10th 2011 ~ New Zealand criticised for scattering toxins such as 1080
"indiscriminately over large areas and ignoring the solution of soil and stock management."

A farmer in New Zealand, Aiden MacKenzie, concerned by the use of the poison
1080 to kill bTB carriers such as possum see
below spoke about the pressure exerted in the 60s and 70s by chemical companies
and vested interests when "super phosphates" were sprayed onto top soil in New Zealand,
creating a soil imbalance. He has presented a paper to a meeting of New Zealand's
Marlborough Federated Farmers. Extract:

"In a nutshell, if the soil is balanced
in terms of mineral elements and healthy, then grass nutrition is balanced and healthy
and healthy stock result. The consequence is maximum immunity to diseases whether
it be Tb or others....acidic soils create a cascade effect of an accumulation of
available iron. High iron levels allow myco-bacteria to thrive and increase and
create the pathology within an animal's body for strains such as tuberculosis. Myco-bacteria
'hijack' the iron from the animal's body, which leads to classic anaemia, associated
with chronic Tb.

He suggested that tests in Michigan, US, had shown conclusively
that liming the soils caused a 10-fold reduction in Tb. (However, the UK TB Advisory
group noted in 2009 that the Michigan studies were not conclusive for bovine TB
(see
DEFRA pdf):

"The results of these studies where lime was spread on farms
in Michigan suffering from high rates of mycobacterium infection, concluded that
lime treatment (which reduces iron availability) had reduced infection of cattle
after a three year period had passed. However, the studies were designed to look
at the paratuberculosis strain of mycobacterium, not bovine TB, and as such are
not scientifically rigorous enough to support this theory for bovine TB." )

November 10th 2011 ~ Could cattle be bred to resist bTB?

The Farmers
Guardian reports that scientists at Scotland's Roslin Institute have found that
'some degree of resistance to Bovine TB is inherited'. Professor Liz Glass and her
team have also identified genetic markers associated with resistance. The Roslin
Institute says:

"These results mean that it might be possible to selectively
breed cows which are more resistant to the disease."

Read
in full
A similar
Farmers Weekly article also quotes Prof Glass, who said depending on the pilot
trial, farmers could have access to breeding information "in the next two to three
years".

"We see this as an additional tool to help control bovine TB and reduce
the force of infection....a step along the way because we need something otherwise
within the next decade, in England alone, the disease will have cost the industry
£1billion"

November 8th 2011 ~ James Paice - Hansard Monday on "... safety implications
of using shooting as part of the proposed badger cull"

James Paice "We are in discussion with the Association of Chief Police Officers
and with the Home Office regarding the police response and associated costs related
to the proposed badger control policy....We have estimated that farmers and landowners
who apply for licences are likely' to incur a cost of around £1.4 million
for one 350 sq km area to carry out the culling operation (including the costs of
coordination and surveying). This is based on DEFRA's estimated cost of culling
- the industry believes that it can be delivered for less." Read
in full (None of this makes for particularly comfortable reading.)

November 8th 2011 ~ "To see the pain it brings people, it is just something
we cannot neglect.." William Worsley

The outgoing President of the Country Land and Business Association talked to
the
Yorkshire Post yesterday

"...Some of the more colourful rhetoric from animal
welfare groups has attempted to portray farmers as bloodthirsty caricatures, desperate
to kill badgers.
The reality is very different with most, like Mr Worsley, seeing the cull as regrettable
but necessary.
"It is not such an important area in Yorkshire, and thank God.
"However I have travelled all over the country doing this job. To see the pain it
brings people, it is just something we cannot neglect. We have to stand up and fight
for a proper solution. This includes vaccination, testing and it includes culling.
"Jim Paice has taken this up well, it is not an enviable task given the strength
of debate."..."

November 7th 2011 ~ John Griffiths (Wales' environment minister) is hoping to
make a statement before Christmas

FWi reports today that Alun Davies, the deputy farming minister in Wales, said
he expected the review process to be completed in December. Read
in full

November 3rd 2011 ~ Welsh Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs, Antoinette Sandbach,
has accused John Griffiths of "being in no hurry" to deal with bTB

"The Minister confirmed to me in writing
that the final meeting of the TB review panel would be on October 28, yet he now
says it has been pushed back to next week. The final report and its recommendations
were due in autumn, yet it increasingly looks like this deadline will also be missed.
Bovine TB has been taking a terrible toll on Welsh family farms, and these latest
delays will only add to their worries.
Rural Wales has been patient with the Welsh Government, but this new delay adds
to the impression that the Minister is in no hurry to take the tough decisions necessary
to tackle this disease."

November 1st 2011 ~ "Bovine TB continues to ravage our communities, and has
already led to the slaughter of around 6,000 cattle in Wales in 2010. The impact
in terms of animal welfare and the emotional and financial effect it has on farming
families is acute."

Wales
Online quotes Brian Richards, the newly appointed vice chairman of the Farmers'
Union of Wales milk and dairy produce committee, who is concerned that the Welsh
bovine TB review panel has not not reported to Minister John Griffiths "in a timely
manner". (Update Nov 3rd - warmwell.com apologises for the error on Nov 1st in which
Brian Richards' title was wrongly given.) .

November 1st 2011 ~ DEFRA statistics show a provisional 5.3% increase in the
number of new TB incidents for January to July 2011, compared with the same period
in 2010.

The website www.tbfreeengland.co.ukpoints
out that, combined with a decrease in the number of herds tested over the same period,

"this equates to a provisional overall increase in the TB incidence rate of
7.3%. Between January and July this year, 20,603 cattle were compulsorily slaughtered,
compared with 19,421 during the same period in 2010. There were 5,359 herds under
movement restrictions on July 31. The current incidence rate and numbers of reactors
slaughtered to date indicate that around 36,000 cattle could be slaughtered by the
end of the year - a significant increase on both 2009 and 2010. "

These raw
statistics cannot begin to convey the stress and unhappiness that bTB brings.

"...Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust ran the programme at seven of its nature
reserves, including a dairy farm; a total of 170 hectares.
The report outlines the full costs involved in the trial and demonstrates that if
groups of land owners join together to vaccinate badgers against bTB, it would become
affordable with no associated negative impact. Culling, as its most vocal supporters
admit, may increase bTB in neighbouring herds through perturbation and as yet no
proven benefit."

However, see also recent comments
on the viability of badger vaccine from Dr Ruth Watkins. (While warmwell.com
is fiercely in favour of vaccination against animal disease when the efficacy of
the vaccines is proven - as for foot and mouth - the assumption that badgers can
all be successfully vaccinated against bTB is, very sadly, misplaced.)

October 2nd ~ Caroline Spelman tells the Tories: "when it comes to stopping
the relentless march of Bovine TB..."

"...after
a decade of dither, this government is proposing a tough, new package of measures
to finally control this disease.
A disease which has brought with it a terrible personal and economic toll.
Labour oppose the package we've put forward.
But like everything they oppose, they've no credible alternative.
When it comes to the countryside, they just don't get it.
The only time they encounter it is when they are desperately chasing a bandwagon
through it.
We get it, we value and we are here to serve it." ( See the
rest of her speech)

And that was all there was to tell them on bTB. ( At
least so far we seem to have been spared the ubiquitous 2001 FMD phrase "bearing
down on the disease" when the government meant "killing probably uninfected animals"
but until we get better tests and speeded up development of usable vaccines, bTB
control means just that.)

October 2nd 2011 ~ The real importance of microbiologist input into the debate

Among the very decent, genuinely interested and worried members of Twitter (such
as http://twitter.com/#!/Badger_Friendly)
who write about the badger cull, there are those who appear to think that a microbiologist
or two may be at a meeting of Badger and Farming interests organised by Brian May.
But the presence of a microbiologist there merely to answer questions is
not enough. Dr Ruth Watkins writes about the advantages of expert input from microbiologists
and virologists who understand the intracacies of the the disease and what measures
for diagnosis, vaccination and treatment might practically be arrived at as a strategy
to control disease without wholesale slaughter. The killing of mostly uninfected
animals was deeply repugnant to us in foot and mouth - as repugnant as it is to
Brian May in the case of the badger and bTB. She says

"I cannot find what (tests)
the Canadians are developing but it was mentioned in one of the pieces that they
were collaborating with the Irish TB group. That is likely to mean they are looking
at detecting individual selected TB proteins or at detecting antibodies to such
TB proteins.
Any strategy for bTB control should be developed by a quorum of microbiologists
with expertise in TB. Some might be clinicians as well, but in human medicine, control
is achieved where it can be - not by killing swathes of the human population, but
by complex means which may include developing new tests etc.
And it is not one single microbiologist or virologist who comes up with the idea
but a peer reviewed quorum(s) of experts in the subject that move on with developments
in a focused and systematic way.
This type of microbiology expertise, matched with clinical experience, simply does
not exist in veterinary medicine."

Yes. Where are the microbiologists? (If
you're in the UK and missed Brian May talking about the proposed badger cull on
the One Show it is 15.05 mins
into the recording on Sept 30th.)

October 2nd 2011 ~" There's just been a Cabinet round-robin..."

The Mail
on Sunday reports that the Home Secretary, Teresa May responded to the Cabinet
round-robin by pointing out that if a badger cull takes place during the Olympics,
there are "fears about police resources being stretched when it's all hands to the
pump... "

"Labour seized on the Home Secretary's worries by stepping up their
attack on proposed budget cuts which opponents say could lead to 16,000 fewer police
officers. Shadow Policing Minister Vernon Coaker said...."Instead of discussing
badger culls she should reverse the massive cuts to police officers she has forced
through. She is taking an unacceptable risk with public safety especially in the
Olympics year."

September 29th 2011 ~ bTB up 3.8% in first half of 2011 compared to 2010

UK bovine tuberculosis cases rose 3.8 percent in the first half of the year
compared with the same period a year earlier, the National Farmers Union has said
in a report, citing DEFRA's own figures. See
Bloomberg "Between January and June, 18,082 cattle were slaughtered after testing
positive for tuberculosis, according to the report. About 5,661 herds were under
movement restrictions because of the disease..".

September 29th 2011 ~ Canada is on the trail of new Bovine TB screening tests

The Canadian Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz, has announced an investment of
nearly 320,000 canadian dollars to the Canadian Cattlemen's Association to help
the association evaluate alternative tests that will be more reliable and cost-effective
than the current tuberculin skin test. "Having a rapid, simple and inexpensive blood
test that can detect bovine TB in cattle will help to achieve the final eradication
of this insidious disease sooner than is possible with existing tools," CCA President
Travis Toews. See www.marketwire.com
The association will work in cooperation with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
and the US Department of Agriculture on the evaluation study. Once again, the naive
question is, "Will successful results of a project such as this be shared with all
countries?" Cooperation in costs and expertise would surely be of benefit to the
whole global community - particularly the UK, where the disease is so disastrously
out of control.

September 28th 2011 ~ TB is a disease that transcends party politics

The
Farmers Weekly reports that the NFU has called on the Labour party to take the
politics out of the debate around culling badgers to combat bovine TB. Peter Kendall
criticised the shadow DEFRA minister, Mary Creag, for trying to generate anti-cull
support at the same time as the government was consulting on whether to carry out
pilot badger culls in TB hotspots. The paper quotes him:

"We are just dipping
our toe in the water with this This is not about a free for all for farmers to do
as they like. Caroline Spelman has consulted on the practicalities of a cull. If
she does give the go ahead there will be two pilots that are analysed for their
efficacy. The science tells us at the very worst we will get a 16% reduction. But
elsewhere in similar trials in Ireland there has been a 30% reduction.

He told
the NFU and Food and Drink Federation fringe event at the Labour party conference,
"Rather than stir up a feeling it won't work, how about for the next year we give
this one chance to see if it works? Then after that you can come back and challenge
us. Let's not stir up the public about something that is so vital for the farming
industry". Read
in full.

September 28th 2011 ~ RBCT data " I am not sure what the comments regarding
small sample size are referring to," writes an emailer

"Regarding small sample sizes, this is important because small sample
size gives large statistical error. However both the post where the recent data
has been posted and the review in the link which you give supply confidence intervals.
As sample size reduces, confidence intervals tend to increase and the size of these
intervals gives an indication of statistical error.
Figs 42a and 42b in the review at http://www.bovinetb.info/rbct.php
show these confidence intervals. Judging by their size for data taken in the
adjoining lands where perturbation was most pronounced, these intervals and hence
error are just as large, in fact significantly bigger, than the intervals in the
culling areas where beneficial effects are seen.
In fact these intervals for the most recent data are smaller than the intervals
for data which exhibited the effects of perturbation during the cull. In view of
this I am not sure what the comments regarding small sample size are referring to.
Were they referring to the sample size of data portraying the detrimental effects
of perturbation or the continuing beneficial effects seen in the proactive areas
or perhaps some completely different data?..."

September 28th 2011 ~ Caroline Spelman tells FWi the focus of the consultation
" focussing on the efficacy of this method of culling and the humaneness"

The video
on the link records Ms Spelman saying "We've listened to all the stakeholders....
we will take their (NFU) concerns into account as we weigh up the responses to the
consultation...the culling of badgers is just one part of that package...it's important
that people should see the package in the round.."
What comes across most strongly is her remark that she is "reasonably confident"
that a badger cull would go ahead in England.

September 27th 2011 ~ Labour would continue with the trial culls if they return
to power - despite its outrage at the policy

"The Labour Party has joined organisations like 38 Degrees
and the Badger Trust in campaigning against government plans for a cull in England.
Mrs Creagh told an NFU Food and Drink Federation fringe meeting at the Labour Party
Conference ......."when we get back in 2015 we will have to carry on", because the
science showed stopping after two or three years would be the worst scenario. She
said it would be grossly irresponsible to stop the cull at that point...."

September 27th 2011 ~ "the latest analysis suggests that farmers are still seeing
beneficial effects." A volte face from Imperial College?

Last Friday, Professor Christl Donnelly posted
additional information on the situation as interpreted by her team in the
original paper, "The Duration of the Effects of Repeated Widespread Badger Culling
on Cattle Tuberculosis Following the Cessation of Culling" on RBCT data. In the
original paper, their conclusion had been:

Conclusions/Significance
Our findings show that the reductions in cattle TB incidence achieved by repeated
badger culling were not sustained in the long term after culling ended and did not
offset the financial costs of culling. These results, combined with evaluation of
alternative culling methods, suggest that badger culling is unlikely to contribute
effectively to the control of cattle TB in Britain."

This was reported in July
by the Guardian
as "Localised badger culling can more than double the risk of TB infecting cattle,
a new Medical Research Council study has shown."
Culling stopped in the RBCT trials in October 2005. It is of significance that she
now writes:

" As of 28 August 2011 herd incidences in proactively culled areas
are still 11% lower than in control areas where no culling took place.
However some caution should be made regarding this because the last 6-monthly value
tends to change significantly when more data becomes available. As shown in Fig
29 at http://www.bovinetb.info/rbct.php
this has happened on 2 previous occasions and sizeable changes were made to this
last value. However the latest analysis suggests that farmers are still seeing beneficial
effects."

(Comments about the technical information in the link - not easy
for the layman - would be welcome.) Comment received:
"...extra data not peer reviewed & estimates some from small samples...It is
when you have a few small samples in the mix, for example say sample = 3 farms had
outbreaks, 2 stopped that's 66% reduction" Another: This isn't about scientists
changing minds: time goes on, more data becomes available; that's what changes."

September 24th 2011 ~Downward Trend? What downward trend?

The indefatigable Captain Bryn Wayt has written to Paul Flynn and others about
his EDM 1591 (Signatures presently stand at
97) While we support Mr Flynn's wish that the Secretary of State should

"take
account of the opportunities now offered by successful badger vaccination trials
and to prepare the way with Brussels for the earliest possible application and introduction
of cattle vaccines that offer the only real long-term solution"

nevertheless,
including the phrase

"..this House notes the encouraging downward trend in bovine
TB incidence in England and Wales"

is surely misleading. As Capt Wayt points
out, DEFRA's
own very careful figures (their original figure of 7.4% has been reduced to
6.1% since we received his email) make clear that

"Provisional statistics show
a 3.8% increase in the number of new TB incidents in January - June 2011 compared
to the same period in 2010. Combined with a decrease in the number of herds tested
over the same period, this equates to a provisional overall increase in the TB incidence
rate (new TB incidents, as a proportion of tests on OTF herds) of 6.1%.."

7.4%
or 6.1% - either figure is worrying and to suggest there is a "downward trend" in
bTB cases in hotspots seems disingenuous.

September 24th 2011 ~ Far too complicated

An email from an interested farmer in Kansas says:

"...the constraints put
in place to even begin to qualify for a licence will be self-limiting in themselves.
It took an awful lot of time and money to even begin to write such documents, let
alone publish them. There are so many limitations, that I believe compliance will
be extremely difficult. I wouldn't even want to try...." (Email)

This is pretty much what the NFU says too, in its response to the Consultation.
It has advised the Government to make the rules more manageable if farmers are to
be expected to carry out a cull satisfactorily. The TB management agreements tie
farmers into culling on their land for four years in order to make sure that culling
programmes are completed. The NFU has pointed out that licenses would be held by
companies, which would not have any power over individual parcels of land if circumstances
changed. As for tenanted land, both the landlord and the tenant would have to enter
a culling agreement whereas only the person actually farming the land should be
involved. The NFU has also objected that the deposit required by companies to pay
for their licence is based on calculations projected by bureaucrats. The cost of
such a deposit should be calculated on farmers' own expected costs. See also Western
Morning News

September 22nd 2011 ~ Peter Kendall and NFU response to the consultation:"...we
have set out very clearly how industry can deliver a humane and effective cull..."

"We are supportive of the announcement made by Environment
Secretary Caroline Spelman about a proposed cull back in July.
We want to see an effective, carefully managed and science-led policy of badger
controls.
For it to work effectively it must be part of a range of measures, including a combination
of existing cattle tests, movement restrictions, the slaughter of test-positive
animals, good on-farm bio-security and, longer-term, vaccination.
We are confident that farmers and wildlife managers are ready and able to meet the
challenges ahead. We have planned and are fully prepared to put in place self-financing
groups that will meet the requirements of the proposals. "

September 21st 2011 ~ "complete about turn and leaves the dairy farming industry
in Wales in confusion and concern"

Welsh farmers had expected a pilot cull of badgers to begin in north Pembrokeshire
last summer. The new Labour-led Welsh Government came to power in May and decided
that a review panel - which has not yet reported - needed to re-examine the science
behind a badger cull. FWi article yesterday quotes Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
AM, Angela Burns.

"There was a time when the assembly overwhelmingly supported
the government, the chief veterinary officer and the scientists, yet a mere 90 days
later the new environment minister, who is now the person in charge of animal welfare,
called a sudden halt to the programme. It's a complete about turn and leaves the
dairy farming industry in Wales in confusion and concern."

September 16th 2011 ~ Consultation on Guidance to Natural England on the implementation
and enforcement of a badger control policy

Farming organisations have only until next Tuesday, September 20th, to respond
to DEFRA's consultation. Natural England's long and complicated annexes to the main
document make for depressing and time-consuming reading. It is

"an opportunity
for key stakeholders to comment on the draft guidance. A list of those stakeholders
invited to respond to this consultation is attached at Annex B."

Here is an
attempt to put the whole lot, including all the annexes, together on a single
HTML page - apologies that tables are not very clear but at least the documents
can be skimmed or searched for keywords in one go.

September 16th 2011 ~ "oral vaccine for badgers is still our ultimate goal,"
says Nigel Gibbens "we will never be able to eradicate TB in cattle without addressing
its presence in badgers"

The CVO has answered several questions about the badger cull on the website
of 38
Degrees (illustration- healthy badger sniffing the daisies) Professor Gibbens
does his best to answer the questions posed.
Meanwhile, the National Beef Association (NBA) has met DEFRA to convey its concern
about Natural England's current
stance and that "a strong working relationship be formed between Natural England
and Animal Health". Kim Haywood, NBA director says:

"It is absolutely critical
that Animal Health is involved and that their expert advisors play a role. The two
bodies must work together to ensure the proposed badger cull works and the incidence
of TB in cattle and wildlife in this country is reduced."

September 15th 2011 ~ evaluation of new diagnostic blood tests for Bovine Tuberculosis
in cattle (Canada)

At present, the difficulties in accurately detecting bovine TB have (as the
Hallmark Boxster case showed with great
clarity) led to unknown numbers of perfectly healthy, uninfected bovines being among
the thousands killed after routine TB testing on UK farms. Both the skin test in
live animals and post mortem inspection of slaughter animals are, as this
report from Canada points out, cumbersome, costly, and yet just not accurate
enough. It continues:

"Commercial tests have been developed by several diagnostic
companies in Europe and the United States, and these companies have agreed to make
their tests available for evaluation. A project being conducted over the next three
years administered through the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) will enter into
agreements with four or five of these companies, where the companies will provide
their blood test kits for comparison to evaluate the tests' ability to detect known
TB-infected cattle. Under these agreements, the test kits would be provided to the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for evaluation of their performance by CFIA
scientists... serologic assays, may assist in achieving the final eradication of
bovine TB from livestock sooner than is currently possible with existing tools .."

September 13th 2011 ~ "DEFRA believes it has no lessons to learn from the Hallmark
Boxster case."

"Are they suggesting his immune response is hiding a truly infected animal?"
This question, in an excellent and lengthy article in today's Yorkshire
Post, is posed by Hallmark Boxster's family after the question posed by the
paper,

"Does Defra now accept that the first blood test on Boxster gave a false
positive and what steps can be taken to avoid a repeat of that mistake?"

received
the extraordinarily phrased answer

"...there are a number of factors that can
lead to different test results at different times including: no diagnostic test
being 100 per cent accurate; the time elapsed between tests; and the complex nature
of animals' immune responses to the TB bacteria, which are not static but evolve
over time."

When asked why farmers cannot be allowed to pay for their own tests
"when there is reason to doubt a result from Animal Health and/or the animal is
especially valuable", DEFRA's somewhat questionable reply was that the interferon-gamma
test "has a very high degree of accuracy and about 97 per cent of cattle that test
positive will be true positives". (But see expert
comment)
They add solemnly, "It is our duty to remove the animals. Given the seriousness
of the bovine TB problem it is important that controls are applied consistently
and with rigour." Read
in full
One wonders how many will conclude that there are indeed lessons to be learned,
among which would be the advice to DEFRA not to risk wasting
the sort of time and money caused by their intransigence over Hallmark Boxster,
and finally to accept that of course farmers should indeed be permitted to pay for
retests "when there is reason to doubt a result from Animal Health and/or the animal
is especially valuable" (Last year, Washington State University developed a
new test with "increased specificity" and "highly sensitive" compared to the
interferon gamma test. One wonders sadly if or when it will ever be used.)

September 13th 2011 ~ New Zealand: " What was the purpose of the aerial toxin
drop?" asks the Kiwi Party

As we report below, New Zealand's use
of the controversial poison 1080 to try
to solve its bTB problem, causes considerably more misery than it solves. New Zealand's
Kiwi
Party has issued a press release following the news of the death of 7 radio-tracked
keas:

"... an explanation
and apology from the Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson is called for.....Although
a supposed kea repellent was used, any person should realise keas are highly inquisitive
parrots which, repellent or no repellent, are almost certain to investigate any
poison bait.
Questions surround the whole use of 1080. What was the purpose of the aerial toxin
drop? If it was aimed at the possum, is there actually a possum problem? Reports
from the West Coast indicate low numbers, verified by an almost complete lack of
road kills. If it's bovine TB, that is the Animal Health Board's responsibility
not DOC's. In any case the TB issue also demands scrutiny since the TB skin test
used on cattle has a 20 percent error rate which in essence means one in 10 cattle
with TB is not detected by the test..." Read
in full

bTB carrying possums are officially the intended target - but since
the researchers in recent vaccine trials (see
below) expressed themselves "confident that possums can be successfully orally
vaccinated without having to capture them", the use of 1080 seems even more undesirable.
How slowly humane alternatives seem to be accepted by officialdom everywhere. See
also abstract at www.curehunter.com

".. Results from trials in a number of animal species indicate that oral BCG
vaccination can reduce disease severity following experimental challenge with Mycobacterium
bovis and in a recent field trial, oral BCG vaccination was shown to prevent
infection of wild possums following natural exposure to M. bovis. ... recent studies
in cattle and wildlife have demonstrated the practicality and effectiveness of vaccinating
animals against tuberculosis and provide much impetus for future use of vaccines."

In the UK, the argument in favour of culling infected badgers in hotspots carries
a lot of weight since the problems with vaccines (and the EU trade rules) have seemed
so intractable and bovines in whom infection is not certain are being killed in
their thousands. But even here, surely no one would allow the indiscrimate killing
of wildlife with a particularly unpleasant poison? Informed comments welcome.

September 9th 2011 ~ "buried in the labyrinth of the DEFRA website, are a handful
of annexes issued by Natural England on the operating procedure which they expect
from any signatories to this cull."

The Bovine TB Blog today reveals that, when asked, Peter Kendall said that he
had not read Natural England's proposals. The blog says (extract) :

"... if
any farmer wants to understand the commitment being asked for, and if you read nothing
else from the Natural England library... have a look at their costings in
Annex C.
The bio security obligations intended to form part of the package, but are said
to be 'not stand alone' are in in Annex
D. and Annex
E.
A working draft of the NE Management Agreement in Annex
F.
How to shoot a badger (with illustrations -above) in Annex
G.
And how to prevent impact on non-participants in Annex
H..."

The post - and other posts on this
very well informed website - needs to be read in full, along with its links.
As the author wryly remarks, "The farming organisations who are invited to answer
the consultation on these proposals have until September 20th to respond on their
members' behalf." (That's Tuesday week.)

September 8th 2011 ~ Whose responsibility?

The CVO, Nigel Gibbens, has answered some questions about the bTB policy in
today's Farmers
Guardian. Some of his remarks seem to consitute a somewhat unfortunate attempt
to justify the fact that farmers will have to pay the piper (see Hansard)
while DEFRA insists on calling the tune:

"...Ultimately it is in the industry's
own best interest to eradicate this disease, but Government will have checks in
place and failure to cull effectively once a licence has been issued will not be
tolerated."

He repeats that "a cattle vaccine and an oral badger vaccine are
still many years away" without explaining the difficulties inherent in using a vaccine
against such a complex bacterium. It seems unlikely that the tone of his answers
will serve to quieten opposition; it does seem a little rich, considering the level
of responsibility shown by the government in animal disease control, for the CVO
to say:

"Anyone applying to cull will need to show they take the responsibility
seriously and are committed to delivering culling effectively and humanely for at
least four years, otherwise it could make matters worse."

- particularly since
Mr Paice has made it clear that although farmers will be expected to pay the full
cost upfront "it is not possible at this stage to provide a figure for the average
sum. Government would be able to access these funds in the event that it needed
to intervene, and be able to levy additional funds from the original participants
should that be necessary."

September 7th 2011 ~ Anthony Gibson: " the government seems to be loading far
too much risk and far too much cost on to the farming community and not taking enough
responsibility itself."

Farmers fear that current proposals for the humane culling of badgers need radical
changes. Asking farmers to sign up to a four-year cull with few government guarantees
is akin to "writing a blank cheque to DEFRA". The arrangements have to be practical
and workable. Farmers
Weekly quotes Mr Gibson:

"If they are not, then nobody is going to go in
for it. That is the immediate priority - to get the proposals changed so they are
actually workable for the farmers who are going to do the culling. They need radical
or significant improvement. On the face of it, the government seems to be loading
far too much risk and far too much cost on to the farming community and not taking
enough responsibility itself."

As FWi points out, Anthony Gibson is a former
NFU communications director, but has been recalled by theNFU to work on its media
strategy for such issues as bovine TB, CAP reform and milk prices. He took up his
new role yesterday.
See also Hansard 5th Sept on
"Badgers" Extract:

" Participants would be required to deposit sufficient
funds to cover the total expected cost of the four-year cull (plus a contingency
sum) before culling begins. The amount that would be required to be deposited would
vary according to the size and nature of the culling operation in each area so it
is not possible at this stage to provide a figure for the average sum. Government
would be able to access these funds in the event that it needed to intervene, and
be able to levy additional funds from the original participants should that be necessary."
(More)

September 7th 2011 ~" the belligerent bureaucratic juggernaut that poisons because
it can.." New Zealand

Even farmers are disgusted at the aerial drop of the poison 1080 over the NZ
forests of North & South Okarito. As we have said below,
this poison, designed to kill wild carriers of bTB, is indiscriminate and very
unpleasant indeed. See New Zealand's Farmers
Against Ten Eighty

September 6th 2011 ~ The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers calls on
DEFRA to review its TB clearance policy

Farmers Weekly today quotes RABDF chairman David Cotton

"Farmers, including
myself, are waiting an average of two weeks from the tests results being received
to removal from the farm by facilitators managed by AHVLA. During that period those
cattle have to be isolated and run the further risk of infecting wildlife. .." Read
in full

When one remembers what such a wait actually entails, one is reminded
of the heartbreaking wait during FMD as affected farmers had to watch and feed doomed
animals - many pregnant - every day until they were finally killed by officialdom
and removed.

September 5th 2011 ~ "We have had donations from £5.00 through to £500.00
"

As we say below, the camelid TB support group is sponsoring an important PCR
trial being conducted at the VLA. (See PCR
button on the www.alpacatb.com website) and donations towards this project were
asked for. For reasons hard to fathom, the "official" British Alpaca Society have
decline to support the project. Dianne Summers writes today:

"This project has
had more support from the cattle industry and suppliers than our own and that is
very sad indeed."

The amount needed now is about £5,800 and any concerned
reader of warmwell.com may like to go to the relevant
page of the alpacatb.com website to see how to donate to this interesting project
in which many of us have a great deal of hope. As they say, "Any donations from
a pound up will be appreciated."

August 31st 2011 ~ "for an official of the Agency charged with delivering government
policy to appear on the radio arguing against government policy is in my view unacceptable."
Peter Kendall

Following Natural England's statement on the subject of the proposed badger
cull (see below) that it has
a "low level of confidence that the predicted benefits can be delivered consistently"
under the proposed policy, it has been criticised by both the National Beef Association
and the NFU. The NBA has said its TB committee wants Animal Health to replace Natural
England as Licensing authority and co-ordinator of the proposed badger cull. (See
NBA press release)
Meanwhile, Farmers Weekly today says the NFU have written a formal letter of complaint
to DEFRA after a Natural England official, speaking on Farming Today, said that
the method of culling being proposed by DEFRA was not "evidence-based" and raised
questions about the size of culling areas.

"....Speaking about the letter Mr
Kendall said: "It was already bad enough that Natural England had submitted an extremely
unhelpful response to the consultation on issuing licences to cull badgers. But
for an official of the Agency charged with delivering government policy to appear
on the radio arguing against government policy is in my view unacceptable. The ultimate
aim, to eradicate bTB, will require concerted working from all parties..."

DEFRA,
it seems, said it was "an issue for the NFU and Natural England".

August 31st 2011 ~ " the presence of hedges reduces badger-cattle transmission
because a higher proportion of contaminated grass is kept out of the reach of cattle"

@farmerpaula
on Twitter reminded her readers today of a blog post written in 2009 about a paper
written in 2006 - a paper which seems to have received little interest:

"...
A piece of research I had no idea existed. And the one thing we have on this farm?
Exceptional density of hedges…with very few gaps; in fact we have many more
hedges now than were present on the 1840 Tithe Map. Could this be (and I hardly
dare think it, let alone say it) a reason why we 'continue' (whispered very quietly)
to go clear?..."
(Read
full blogpost)

"....An alternative, and possibly complementary strategy is to
establish the ecological conditions associated with the spill-over of disease and
to manage these (Dobson 2005). We studied the multifactorial reality of British
farmland ecosystems and found, using recent advances in statistical modelling, a
link between farmland habitat management and bTB risk. The collective effects of
ecological factors were marked. We conclude that managing the landscape in ways
that are also beneficial to conservation generally may provide an additional means
of controlling bTB." (Discussion
Section of paper.)

August 30th 2011 ~ In France they have found just one cow positive and intend
to kill the entire herd of 338 immediately

A single cow from a large herd in the Cantal of Allanche (in the Auvergne) has
been identified at an abattoir as bTB positive - and there is deep consternation.
Killing the entire herd seems a severe reaction - but France is very concerned that
bTB should not become a French problem as it is in Britain.
An article today at www.lamontagne.frpoints
out that since the last case in France was in 2005, although testing at abattoirs
does continue, routine testing does not take place on farms any more. It will be
a difficult task to trace the source of the infection, says the article. The farms
in the cantal of Allanche are now under restrictions and all animals in the area
around the affected farm will be screened. In France, which has considered itself
free of bTB for five years, any disease considered a zoonosis - as bTB is considered
there - the owner of animals killed as a result is reimbursed enough to restock
animals considered to be of the same financial value. Although France considers
the risk of bTB to people is "faible", it is interesting that today's article does
mention the "risks to those who have had close and constant contact with animals
at the infected premises."

August 27th 2011 ~ Jubilation as Hallmark Boxster rejoins his herd

"...he and the
herd have finally been given the all-clear by vets...
Upon being let loose from the pen the animal charged gleefully into the field, playing
with the other members of the herd and lifting his legs high in the air, cheered
on by the whole Jackson family.
Mr Jackson's daughter Kate McNeil ..."I've only just stopped crying. It doesn't
seem real. We have had fantastic support from so many people."

DEFRA spent
more than £130,000 taxpayers' money in an attempt to justify the Department's
stance in this case. Warmwell's Hallmark Boxster
page has followed the case from the beginning. The raw emotions of this case
bring into focus the fact that at present there are many other bovines killed on
evidence that is far from water tight - but most farmers are unable to fight a bureaucracy
that is adamant about its own right to withstand challenge.

August 26th 2011 ~ "Conclusions: The IS6110_T assay provides a PCR based assay
system that is compatible with current diagnostic protocols for the detection of
M. bovis in the USA and complements current testing strategies."

"Culture of M. bovis from
diagnostic specimens is the gold standard for bovine tuberculosis diagnostics in
the USA. Detection of M. bovis by PCR in tissue homogenates may provide a simple
rapid method to complement bacterial culture. A significant impediment to PCR based
assays on tissue homogenates is specificity since mycobacteria other than M. bovis
may be associated with the tissues..."

August 25th 2011 ~ "...implications for potential disease spread and zoonotic
risk to owners and animal handlers, including veterinarians."

"... In the majority of cases of TB in alpacas, the source
of infection is thought to be spillover of infection from other animals such as
cattle and wildlife. ......... The owners and attending veterinary surgeon involved
in this case had regularly flushed the discharging lesion, possibly creating bacterial
aerosols. We would urge colleagues to be aware of the potential of TB in udder lesions
of alpacas, and to consider the associated risk involved in the treatment of such
lesions."

August 24th 2011 ~ "not once has Natural England mentioned this low level of
confidence that we can deliver." Kevin Pearce

Kevin
Pearce's NFU Blog today refutes the opinion given by Natural England (below)
about their lack of confidence in a farmer-led badger cull being able to replicate
what has only previously been undertaken by government. He writes:

"At the NFU
detailed discussions have been held with Natural England about industry plans for
delivering the control policy. We've shared our thoughts on legal structures, extensive
management plans, guidance and training packages and strict biosecurity measures
and not once has Natural England mentioned this low level of confidence that we
can deliver. If the Natural England Board is so concerned why has it not sought
to speak with us or look at the huge body of work that has been undertaken so far?"

He says that what worries him particularly is that Natural England is an advisory
body that provides advice to ministers and the paper makes their advice to ministers
public before the end of the consultation period. "... it's clear Natural England
do not believe in the policy, don't want to do it and will do everything it can
to frustrate the proper process."

August 24th 2011 ~ Expert panel that will review the scientific evidence base
has now been named.

Welsh chief scientific adviser, Professor John Harries, and the recently appointed
chairman of the panel, Professor Christopher Gaskell (principal of the Royal Agricultural
College, Cirencester), have announced the panel. Their names have been reported
at www.salisburyjournal.co.uk
The panel is expected to report in the Autumn.

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward CB, Chair of Public Health Wales and Director of
the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University

Professor Malcolm Bennett FRCPath FHEA, co-director of the UK National Centre
for Zoonosis Research and Professor of Veterinary Pathology at the University of
Liverpool;

Professor Bridget Emmett, deputy director of the Biogeochemistry Programme,
section head and head of site at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Bangor;

Professor Charles Godfray CBE FRS, a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and Hope
Professor at the Department of Zoology of the University of Oxford

Professor Dirk Pfeiffer, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and head of the
Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health Group in the Department of Veterinary
Clinical Sciences at the Royal Veterinary College (University of London).

August 23rd 2011 ~"..we have a low level of confidence that the predicted benefits
can be delivered consistently" Natural England

This is from Natural England's response
(pdf) to "Consultation on guidance to Natural England on the implementation and
enforcement of a badger control policy August 2011" Although their response to the
consultation acknowledges that

"Badgers play an important role in the transmission
of this disease and we recognise that it will take an integrated and multi-faceted
approach to disease control to succeed in reducing bTB prevalence..."

they
are aware that the minimum criteria for culling may not be achievable in a farmer-led
cull . The "complexity of the regulatory regime required to ensure successful outcomes"
is of concern. Culling critiera are defined as:

covering at least 70% of the land within the culled area (based on RBCT experience),

a minimum area of 150km2 (based on analysis and extrapolation of RBCT data),

sustained for a minimum of four years (based on RBCT estimates),

and conducted simultaneously as defined as within a six-week period each year
(based on advice of the combined Defra Science Advisory Council and TB Science Advisory
Body; http://sac.defra.gov.uk/2011/02/17/meeting-17th-february-2011/
Among other things, they advise that the policy be " implemented with caution and
with appropriate checks, which should continue beyond the pilot stage" and be "subject
to regular, independent monitoring". (At a time when only potentially profit-making
or money-saving concerns seem to be getting DEFRA money, one is always left with
the nagging question, Who will pay for that?)

August 22nd 2011 ~ The majority of people polled were unaware of the link between
badgers, cattle and bTB

The NFU commissioned "England Marketing", to carry out an online survey between
May 15 and 24. The Farmers
Guardian discusses the results.

August 20th 2011 ~ A very good question

In February this year, Emma McClarkin, MEP, submitted to the EU Commission a
"Question
for written answer" After explaining that a constituent had written to her about
bovine TB and EU Directive 78/52/EEC, she asked the Commission to estimate how much
the slaughter of infected cattle costs the European taxpayer, and secondly,

"...
can the Commission explain why, if an effective vaccine were developed, its use
would be prohibited by the EU Directive?"

The official - very carefully worded
- answer to this question was given on 8 March 2011 by the European Commissioner
for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli, on behalf of the Commission. Read
in full - but the important bit is:

"...Current rules do not allow the use
of vaccines against TB in cattle mainly due to the interference with the only official
test (skin test) and the suboptimal effectiveness of existing vaccines.
If a candidate vaccine succeeds in showing scientifically sufficient protection
and no interference with diagnostic tests, this vaccine might be an additional tool
to accelerate TB eradication under certain circumstances. For this, EU and international
(OIE) rules will need to be substantially amended."

Any information about the
current state of validation for DIVA tests would be gratefully received.

A note entitled,
"Information on TB in cattle, badgers and camelids" on the website of the British
Blue Cattle Organisation (does any reader know the author?) gives, on page 5 and
6 of the pdf file, information and links about recent known cases of bTB in humans.
One Health Protection Agency Report report concluded that bovine TB was "an under-
appreciated cause of disease and death in humans." and

"Similar outbreaks of
M tuberculosis, and, to a lesser extent, M bovis, are possible unless public health
control measures are instituted and maintained." (See BBC
report from 2007)

An article in the Veterinary
Record expressed particular concern about the healthy young female vet whose
bTB was confirmed following contact with a TB-infected alpaca.

"... Pasteurisation
of milk has effectively reduced expo- sure to M bovis for many people, but there
is still a risk of infection for people whose occupation involves close contact
with tuberculous animals; these cases usually present as pulmonary TB (Gallagher
and Jenkins 1998, Cousins and Dawson 1999, Grange 2001, Thoen and others 2006, de
la Rua-Domenech 2006)."

August 20th 2011 ~ In February, the RCVS warned that" the continually growing
reservoir of this serious disease presents a potential threat to human health"

"It is important to note that bTB is a zoonotic
disease and failure to tackle the continually growing reservoir of this serious
disease presents a potential threat to human health, both to those who work with
farm animals and in situations where companion animals, that live in close proximity
to humans, may have contracted the disease from infected wildlife or farmed animals.
History and the actions of Governments in other countries have shown that this disease
can be controlled and eradicated.
For the above reasons the RCVS considers that it is imperative that the Government
prioritises the development and implementation of an effective science-based approach
to tackling bTB. ... it is important to note that the scientific evidence in this
field has been interpreted in different ways, not least because tackling bTB is
an intensely political issue.."

The RCVS went on to urge that Government be
prepared to "take difficult political decisions in order to implement, oversee,
monitor and manage any effective policy to control and eradicate the disease..the
significant reservoir of the disease in wildlife, and in particular badgers, cannot
be ignored." Read
in full

August 20th 2011 ~ The legal costs of court action over Hallmark Boxter - "
a huge waste of public money".

"Defra said the bill comprises Mr Jackson's legal costs and
the fees of its counsel. But last night Mr Jackson said: "My legal costs alone have
come to £114,000, Defra have offered me £90,000 and I will have to take
advice on this. I would not like to think how much this has cost the taxpayer overall
- it has been a huge waste of public money."

August 19th 2011 ~ "Sometimes we have to do what is unpopular because we know
it is right": Peter Kendall

The BBC article
" Badger cull heads for further consultation" includes a photograph of a badger
with severe neck lesions in addition to the usual picture of healthy badgers.
We learn that 63% of people polled said badgers should not be killed for cattle
TB. (Are those same people supportive of the present situation in which thousands
of cows, unborn calves and bulls are killed on the evidence of a somewhat inaccurate
test, all too easily incorrectly administered? See Hallmark
Boxster case)
The notion that the answer is simply to let the bacterium run riot since, as one,
albeit interesting, article at www.permaculture.co.uk
puts it, "bovine TB isn't really much of a problem in the first place", ignores
the increasing incidence of bTB spreading to other species, including cats and dogs
- and inevitably, people.
The article contends that:

"The war on agricultural pests and diseases is an
exercise in futility. So rather than trying to eradicate them I suggest we continue
studying and observing and letting them tell us where we're going wrong."

In
the sub-microscopic world, ever more ingenious and destructive pathogens are evolving
and assailing the Goliath of our own systems with a David-like effectiveness. This
is a life or death struggle in many cases. It would be interesting to know if other
readers feel they should be merely "observed" in order to "tell us where we are
going wrong". (Contact by email)

August 17th/18th 2011 ~ "There is no reason why they should not use the DIVA
test now for cattle instead of the Bovigam test"

One correspondent to warmwell.com who really does know the science behind the
bTB testing is the virologist and farmer, Dr Ruth Watkins. She writes
here about Hallmark Boxster and about the false positives that would have condemned
him - (had the Jacksons not been utterly convinced of the need to fight the Department
with such perseverence) and that do condemn so many others in the same uninfected
condition.

" ...DEFRA never repeat any positive results no matter how low, but
hasten such cattle immediately to be killed. ...so many were killed on the basis
of low gamma interferon results that were not skin test positive (like Hallmark
Boxster) and none had any lesions PM, nor were the sample of animals from whom they
cultured normal tissues found to be positive for M bovis on culture.
The replacement of the bovigam test by the DIVA test for cattle when they vaccinate
them will be much more specific and I hope give cleaner results..."

August 16th 2011 ~ Vindication at long last for Hallmark Boxster

It has taken 17 months and a great deal of resilience and determination for
the Jacksons to prove that their beautiful British Blonde bull, Hallmark Boxster,
has always been free of bovine TB. The whole story is on the
Boxster page. On Sunday night DEFRA confirmed

: "This bull can be regarded
as officially TB-free."

No apology for DEFRA's behaviour has been offered nor
any admission as to how much taxpayer's money has been spent by DEFRA in trying
to get the bull killed and forgotten. The slaughter order to kill Hallmark Boxster
was issued in April 2010 by the Leeds division of Animal Health. DEFRA has agreed
to pay costs within 10 days.
Back in April, the Judge, Mr Justice McCombe, quashing the slaughter notice on Hallmark
Boxster, told DEFRA it had made

"a policy mountain out of what was a farm molehill".

DEFRA still insisted on yet another blood test. In this, unlike the Jacksons,
they were given leave to carry it out.
Twelve months earlier, the bull had given a "marginal indication" in the gamma interferon
test but his owner said the sample was invalid because DEFRA officials had not followed
the correct procedures. He wanted the sample retaken, even offering to pay the costs.
A year of wrangles followed with the farmer sticking to his guns.
In reprieving the bull, the judge refused DEFRA permission to appeal, although the
Department could still have applied to the Court of Appeal.
The case had alrady cost £15,000 in legal fees - as sum that was supposed
to have been paid by DEFRA within 14 days.
Mr Jackson described how the DEFRA vets had walked past the bull to test the rest
of the herd, always refusing to give the bull a retest in spite of his pleas. His
owner, Ken Jackson, is not the first to have challenged such a diagnosis, nor the
first to be refused when he asked to pay privately for a retest . See Yorkshire
Post for the most recent news

August 15th 2011 ~ "Why don't we just vaccinate cattle? If only it was that
simple," says Kevin Pearce

On his blog,
Mr Pearce (NFU Director of Regions) today catalogues what he sees as the current
challenges with cattle vaccines. Extract:

"...while good progress is being made
on the development of a DIVA test it will need to go through EU and International
validation before it can be used.
The EU Bovine TB Regulations prohibit the use of the BCG vaccine in cattle. While
it is possible to change the EU regulation, and I have discussed this with EU officials
in the past, the EU moves very slowly on these issues. We also remain hampered by
the fact that there is no real support from other Member States on this issue.
There are still questions about how effective the BCG vaccine is in cattle. There
was a scientific paper published last summer which looked at a field evaluation
of the efficacy of the BCG vaccine against Bovine TB in cattle in Ethiopia. That
study concluded that "Overall, the protective efficacy of BCG was between 56% and
68% depending on the parameters selected."

It is useful to keep returning to
the EU regulations. They are not set in stone and, as always, are more to do with
trade than with disease control. Is it not they, more than perhaps anything else,
that create the stumbling block to enthusiastic work on cattle vaccine for bTB?
(The paper Kevin Pearce refers to is
here.)

August 15th 2011 ~ New Zealand plans to poison its wildlife bTB reservoir with
a new poison, zinc phosphide

Zinc phosphide would not be applied aerially. It would not be a replacement
for the controversial 1080. (The poison 1080,
still not banned in Australia and New Zealand causes poisoned animals a slow and
very nasty death.)
We read at /www.stuff.co.nz
that the new poison would be available in 3 or 4 months "The encapsulation and bait
making would be done in Auckland, with the zinc phosphide chemical coming from either
China or India. "DOC would first look at its cost-effectiveness and whether it was
a humane poison and would need to trial the poison."

August 15th 2011 ~ Cattle in Wales are being tested ever more frequently and
stringently

Christianne Glossop, quoted by the Farmers
Guardian today, evidently wants to make it very clear that every effort is made
in Wales to eradicate bTB on farms themselves and ensure no infected bovines are
ever sold. Measures introduced so far include:

A move to annual testing which meant cattle owners in Wales have to pre-movement
test their animals.

Pre-movement testing exemptions being reviewed and tightened by new legislation.

All cattle, including those from England and Scotland, being pre-movement tested
before attending the main national and regional agricultural shows in Wales. Prof
Glossop says that all animals that travel from Wales to sales will have tested negative
for TB before being moved.

August 14th 2011 ~ Your farming correspondent writes: "if PCR technology
can be used to detect TB infection in camelids, for what species will it not be
be useful?" A very reasonable question.

Dr Colin Fink writes today in answer to the farmer interested in the use of
PCR to detect bTB in camelids and who asked about its possible wider use (see
below) :

"Some years ago we looked, in co-operation with DEFRA, at a herd
known to be broken down with Mycobacterium bovis - cattle TB. We could not find
the organism within the blood stream. This is one of the difficulties: fool proof
diagnosis of an infectious state.
Many cattle may meet the organism, become skin test positive, but if allowed to
live would remain well with the few organisms walled off in some area like the lungs
or lymphoid tissues.
So even in so called 'broken down' cattle the most sensitive DNA detection techniques-
PCR , would not find the organisms in blood. The organism hides and only occasionally
showers in to the blood stream as it spreads.
At post-mortem these animals may have lymph nodes or a focus in one area or many
areas, demonstrating infection and this may be confirmed by looking for the specific
organism DNA by PCR..
There are many of us walking around having met M. tuberculosis but we have
walled off a single lesion and remain well. In the cases of cattle infection, the
risk is that something may trigger excretion of the organism during lactation, into
the milk, and the possibility of passing this infection on to humans. Cattle that
are lactating - and encouraged to remain milk producers, may be at higher risk of
disseminated infection due to the physiological stress of lactation. - Others may
know more about this .
In Camelids, there seems to be a genetic reluctance to produce a white cell or antibody
response to Mycobacterium bovis and these animals quickly become overwhelmingly
infected with (evidently) organisms within all body compartments including the blood
stream. Hence the potential monitoring of blood or faeces for the organisms.
I suspect that there may be evidence within the literature for the nature of M.bovis
infection in other species in the wild life pool but I do not know this."

As
always, we are very grateful to experts who take the time to send informed comment
such as this.

August 14th 2011 ~ Camelids: "If this project is successful the simplicity of
taking a faecal sample or nasal swab to be tested at your local VLA would be a huge
step forward."

Research Project into the use of PCR to detect bovine Tuberculosis in camelids.
Details here - extract:

"Following
a further meeting in July with scientists at the VLA we are pleased to announce
that we have now signed contracts with AHVLA Weybridge to conduct such a study.
This technique is already used successfully for other similar diseases and the AHVLA
microbiologists are hopeful that due to the advanced gross pathology often found
in camelids it may be possible to detect m.bovis in faeces, nasal swabs or blood.
The object of the project is to generate data for proof of concept for the use of
PCR to detect M. bovis in camelids using samples taken from animals euthanised as
part of the Defra TB surveillance program. The tests will be trialled on camelids
that present with visible lesions."

Read in full.
This project is ready to start now and, writes Dianne Summers, we need your support.
X.If you own alpacas or llamas or have an interest in the use of PCR to detect bTB
then please contribute to the cause. Donations
for the PCR project will be 'ring fenced' and used only for the PCR project.

August 14th 2011 ~ "I'd be the first to admit that we still have some issues
to resolve."

For those of us trying to approach this issue - so impossibly difficult for
so many reasons - with a certain sympathy for the passionate views on all sides,
we recommend the blog of Kevin
Pearce who is giving the NFU view as calmly as he can:

"I know that there
are a lot of people working hard .. to make sure that we get the opportunity to
deliver an effective, efficient and humane badger control policy in addition to
the rigorous cattle measures that we already have in place.. it does appear that
at least ministers are prepared to allow the industry to deliver a control programme..
an enormous step forward.
So we can all sit back and whinge or we can get on with it and take control. Do
we want to grasp the opportunity and try and get on top of TB or do we want to whinge
about it for another decade or so?..."

Read also his latest
blog post on the NFU view of scientific evidence, in which he points out that
the RBCT areas have continued to be monitored since culling stopped and that data
shows that the reduction of TB in the culled areas is not only sustained but it
also improves over time - even the areas surrounding the RBCT cull showing a positive
reduction in disease.

"If we are going to have this debate, let's have all evidence
on the table, not just that convenient to the very proactive anti-cull lobby."

Unfortunately,
the elephant in the room for those opposing the cull, many of whom may be insulated
by where they live from any need to "grasp the opportunity" nor any desire "try
and get on top of TB", is their genuine distress is that badgers are difficult to
kill humanely and they can readily imagine many healthy badgers and cubs dying in
terror. That culling badgers might protect thousands of cows that react to the skin
test seems irrelevant.
What they are most certainly not encouraged to remember is the unstoppable nature
of the bacterium itself. It now threatens not only exponentially increasing numbers
of bovines, badgers and camelids but all susceptible mammals including people. The
disease is horrible and largely untreatable- and the danger is increasing.

August 14th 2011 ~ Tesco acknowledges that bovine TB is 'one of Britain's biggest
endemic animal health issues and that it needs to be addressed'

Tesco has had to retract - or at least clarify - a letter from a customer service
manager that assured a customer, worried about the badger cull, that "none of the
suppliers we source from take part in this activity".
Alistair Driver in the Farmers
Guardian reports:

"....Responding to angry farmers who contacted it, Tesco
sought to clarify its policy. It insisted the letter did not reflect its position
on badger culling and said it was 'sorry that the customer service manager gave
the wrong impression'
However, Tesco fell short of giving a commitment that it would source products from
farmers involved in a badger cull... While it acknowledged that bovine TB is 'one
of Britain's biggest endemic animal health issues and that it needs to be addressed',
the retailer said the proposed badger cull was 'not something we have taken a position
on'.

It has been pointed out that all the big supermarkets import beef and
dairy products from Ireland and New Zealand, where wildlife culls to control disease
have been in place.
Read article

August 13th 2011 ~ "Remember at one stage, with this much vilified test, we
had got the country to a point of being 98% clear of TB. What went wrong?"

" . Governments of all persuasion wanted economies, so testing intervals
were relaxed until they became ineffective. After Foot & Mouth, stock was sold
from areas that were suspect to say the least...
... ever more concentrate diets, with some odd ingredients, as production became
the name of the game... No wonder there are trace element and vitamin deficiencies.
.... The long term hope for vaccination has to overcome the resistance apparent
in current EU regulations. Is DEFRA and the government prepared to stand up to the
EU and push the necessary regulations through both Parliament and the EU? MAFF/DEFRA
's track record on standing up to Europe is not very encouraging.
...When it comes to the cull also there is NO totally humane method of culling...if
a cull does take place then without exception EVERY ANIMAL should have a full Post
Mortem. ..."

The email deserves to be read in full. Here is a vet who has seen
many changes over a long life and is deeply saddened. He concludes: "My visiting
Brock is no danger to cattle all local dairy herds have gone, Bill the head cowman
long since gone to meet his maker and Alf, near ninety, now lives in a town. I miss
their calls in the early hours around dawn, as they fetched some two hundred cows
in."
British Dairy farming is indeed in deep trouble - and if we lose it the UK will
be even more dependent on imports from abroad. In a Depression, supply chains from
abroad become vulnerable.UPDATE John, a farmer in Wiltshire, writes: "Cattle
testing intervals have been stretched, but the areas where 4 year testing is in
place remain the areas from which fewest reactors are found. I'm pretty sure that
this area had a couple of tests at 2 year intervals in the late 60's but have returned
to annual testing since - that is for those herds that test clear. A
reactor means testing every 60 days, a reality for a substantial proportion of herds.
Your correspondent who wants full post-mortem of every badger culled is only going
to find out how many have clinical symptoms, not how many are infected, so how useful
is that? If PCR technology can be used to detect TB infection in camelids, for what
species will it not be be useful?"

August 13th 2011 ~ " I may have overlooked some significant issues here so I
would be interested in your thoughts."

Comments are invited from an emailer today who asks:

"Testing every 12 months
in the South West is a major burden - let alone every 6 months - but could the halving
of the number of cattle slaughtered in the IAA be largely due to more frequent testing?
The last section on the following page gives some detail. http://www.bovinetb.info/animals_tested_and_slaughtered.php
I may have overlooked some significant issues here so I would be interested in your
thoughts."

Helpful comments, welcome as always.

August 10th 2011 ~ On gassing -" impossible to guarantee that a lethal dose
is delivered to all animals in a sett."

While some claim that for frustrated farmers wanting to protect their herds,
the most efficient, quiet and humane way - away from prying eyes - is to use exhaust
gas to eradicate the wildlife reservoir, others are horrified at what one emailer
to warmwell.com calls "an exceptionally cruel way of killing badgers".
We should appreciate links to informed information or papers on this issue. In the
meantime, we have found a decision paper by the Welsh TB team (2008) : Fumigation
as a badger culling technique (pdf) The paper concludes that it is highly unlikely
that a method can be developed to deliver a lethal dose throughout a badger sett,
there are no humane fumigants currently licensed, there is no reliable and standard
method of producing CO, the only fumigant considered to be relatively humane - and
indeed that "The effect of CO on badgers is unknown, particularly the effects of
sub-lethal doses"
Every research organisation in the UK was contacted by the team to see if it were
willing to support or carry out trials of CO as a gas to kill badgers.
None agreed nor was prepared to offer advice nor discuss the potential opportunity.
ws Read
paper in full.

August 10th 2011 ~ "Why should that badger suffer a slow death over three or
four years?"

This was a question asked by an unnamed farmer who explained to Radio 4's "The
Report" on August 4 how some farmers are quietly taking matters into their own
hands and using the exhaust from an old tractor to put to sleep all the members
of a sett where TB infection is known. The Badger Trust say that such farmers are
anything but 'law abiding citizens' and are now demanding that they must be named
and prosecuted. See FG.
The Badger Trust is mentioned again by the Farmers Guardian today in an
article about a letter sent to the BBC by the trust's chairman, David Williams.
He demands to know where the makers of a Radio 4 programme obtained an estimate
of UK badger population numbers, apparently unaware, as the FUW points out, that:

".. the figure is stated clearly in the Badger Trust's own 'Eurasian
Badger Factsheet' which reveals that badger numbers have increased to 'a total
estimated population of around 300,000'."

Our own VLA researchers seem not to have yet found a way of orally delivering
vaccine that only badgers will eat and that can survive long enough, once digested,
to take effect. Unfortunately, if a cow were to eat the bait the TB skin test would
show a reaction. All the same, we are intrigued by the claim in the
Guardian on Saturday that, according to "a source close to the agencies developing
the oral vaccine, scientists have not encountered any problems and are on track
to complete by 2015."
Much of the work seems to be based on the trials in New Zealand involving the Australian
brushtail possum, (Trichosurus vulpecula),-
the main wildlife reservoir of Tb in New Zealand. An apparently rather successful
oral vaccine trial, using "orally delivered bacille Calmette - Guerin (BCG), the
Tb vaccine used in humans and derived from the attenuation of an M. bovis isolate"
took place between July 2004 and November 2006 in New Zealand:

"....during the
monitoring phase of the vaccine trial, significantly fewer vaccinated animals became
naturally infected with Tb than control individuals ...a highly significant protective
effect of the vaccine was apparent - 12 incident cases of infection in 71 control
animals versus 1 in 51 vaccinated animals exposed to the same force of infection.."

. The researchers wrote that they were " confident that possums can be successfully
orally vaccinated without having to capture them". Possums are considered a pest
in New Zealand and all the experimental animals were subsequently trapped and killed
- but the authors accept that for badgers in the UK "intensive culling is often
not a politically desirable option". Their concluding paragraph shows that for other
host species, such as badgers, "demonstrations that oral vaccination is similarly
efficacious... and that effective delivery at the required management scale can
successfully be achieved are both still required."
See full text of Oral
vaccination reduces the incidence of tuberculosis in free-living brushtail possums
by D. M. Tompkins et al. (Comments welcome)

August 10th 2011 ~ "...even if the ELISA test is performed on badgers which
all have gross lesions, typically just over a third of these badgers will not be
picked up by the ELISA test"

An email received today in answer to the query below makes some worrying suggestions
about the proportion of badgers that may be infected in bTB hotspots. Informed comments
emailed to warmwell gratefully
received. Read email in full

August 9th 2011 ~ "Is there any way of estimating the number of badgers that
have been infected but which haven't yet, or may never, develop clinical symptoms?"

A farmer from Wiltshire asks today:

"From time to time on various websites
where these things are discussed, claims are made that the situation in cattle is
at least as bad as the official figures show, but that the proportion of the badger
population infected is much less, because only ones with clinical signs at post-mortem
are counted. It is easy to suggest that the problem is mostly in the cattle population
rather than badgers, because ALL cattle infections are counted but, in badgers,
only the ones exhibiting clinical signs. Is there any way of estimating the number
of badgers that have been infected but which haven't yet, or may never, develop
clinical symptoms?"

The implication is that the number of badgers infected
but not yet exhibiting clinical symptoms might be on a par with the number of cattle
reactors. Informed comments welcome. UPDATE: Dr Colin Fink comments today: "It is possible
that Graham Hewinson of DEFRA may have a study on this (it would require a study
catching and bleeding badgers) but is it a question that is central to the discussion?
No one disagrees that there is a large reservoir in all wildlife. It is the question
of how best to reduce this without
1) increasing the amount excreted into the environment by (say) perturbation and
2) how best to reduce the reservoir in a timely, effective and humane manner." (See
also http://www.warmwell.com/1746-6148-5-42.pdf
)

August 8th 2011 ~"Just been reading the small print of the govt's badger culling
plans...." Anthony Gibson on Twitter

And yesterday, the
bovinetb.blogspot.com explains that what lies "buried in the labyrinth of the
Defra website, are a handful of annexes issued by Natural England on the operating
procedure which they expect from any signatories to this cull." A look at the bovinetb.blogspot
post, "
Natural England's guidance for a badger cull", is highly recommended, but a
small extract gives the flavour:

"..... Annex G. This is a 46 page document,
dealing with closed periods, operating protocols, firearms and disposal of Class
1 hazardous waste material ( badger) Watch for little inserts like C & D of
collection vehicles (already classified and licensed for Class 1 hazardous waste)
between farms.
And finally, in Annex H are NE's ideas to reduce impact on non-participants, which
will also be the responsibility of participating licence holders. This includes
not only 'liaising with non-participants', and protecting 'their' badgers from harm,
but may involve posting intentions and map references on the parish noticeboard..."

One cannot help agreeing with Matthew of the Bovinetb Blogspot and with Mr
Gibson's Twitter remark:
"If anyone applies for a licence on these terms I'd be amazed"

From www.thisishampshire.net
".... Mr Swayne cited the huge number of cattle that had to be slaughtered every
year because of bovine tuberculosis and added:

"The unchecked spread of this
disease is the real animal cruelty."

The MP acknowledged that many people were
calling for badgers to be vaccinated rather than shot. He added: "This is an excellent
idea but we do not yet possess a vaccine that is practical and effective, which
is why we are spending »»£20m trying to develop one. In the meantime,
it would be irresponsible to just stand by and hope."

August 8th 2011 ~ "Your farmer correspondent is absolutely right. Most cattle
that are skin test positive have met the organism but remain healthy"

Again, we are grateful to Dr Colin Fink for the following expert
advice. He reminds us that although healthy animals with a good immune system
meeting Mycobacterium bovis may throw it off and remain healthy ".. later on in
life or under stress, for example perturbation of badger social groups by culling
animals may have a recrudecence of this infection and become clinically infected
and excretors of the organisms." Extract:

"Your farmer correspondent is absolutely
right. Most cattle that are skin test positive have met the organism but remain
healthy. But they are culled as a precaution. The problem with culling badgers is
that the remainder will be stressed and perversely we may initially cause greater
spillage and production of the organism into the local environment from these stressed
animals.
In culling cattle who are skin reactors we are applying different standards for
infection risk, to the cattle, for reasons of risk to human health.
At present there is no ideal solution. I am of the opinion that feeding and including
trace elements to the badgers (and other herbivore/omnivore wild life reservoirs)
along with hormones to limit reproduction, may be a useful experiment to undertake.
I have previously suggested mixed antibiotics in the feed. Maybe this is a way forward
and worth a serious trial?"

August 7th 2011 ~ "Caroline Spelman and Jim Paice still have a lot of questions
to answer before I will be interested in taking the unknown level of risk of funding"

An article in the Farmers
Weekly today is by Stephen Carr -" I doubt if there is a farmer in England who
has been more adversely affected by bovine TB than myself over the past 20 years."
His article asks serious questions both about funding (".. is the signing of the
Section 7 NERC by a farmer equivalent to signing an open cheque to DEFRA?") and
about the scale of what is proposed. Extract:

"..by limiting the cull to a maximum
of 40 zones over the next four years, DEFRA will ensure that many zones are likely
to be surrounded by areas containing infected badgers where nothing in the way of
culling is being done. Unless each cull zone has boundaries that consist of geographic
features impregnable to badgers they are likely to be repopulated from non-culled
areas.
Two 'pilot' culling zones are now proposed for next year, with 38 more to follow,
provided there is no successful legal challenge from badger preservationists. I
doubt if there is a farmer in England who has been more adversely affected by bovine
TB than myself over the past 20 years. But, with eight weeks of stakeholder consultation
remaining, Caroline Spelman and Jim Paice still have a lot of questions to answer
before I will be interested in taking the unknown level of risk of funding their
badger cull as it is currently proposed."

August 6th 2011 ~ Like is not being compared to like - and farmers don't like
it

A Wiltshire farmer writes: "There are frequent references to the percentages
of badgers that have been identified as TB infected. As I understand it these are
ones in which clinical symptoms can be isolated at post mortem. But with cattle
the number of TB infected ones recorded are those that have reacted to the skin
test, and we know that the majority of those will have no clinical symptoms. Therefore
it would seem reasonable to assume that were it possible to test badgers in the
same way that cattle are tested, then the number that would react to the skin test
would be increased by a similar proportion to that of skin test reactors to those
showing clinical symptoms in cattle.
What is the significance of the figures if we are not comparing like with like?"
Informed comments
welcome

August 6th 2011 ~ "The website offers a 24/7 free advice and support service.."
A flyer from Dianne Summers for all camelid owners

She writes:

"If you own alpacas or llamas we recommend you visit our website www.alpacatb.org.
The website gives detailed advice on what happens if you are unfortunate to come
down to bovine TB in your herd and also advice on measures you can take to reduce
the risk of it happening to your herd. Operated and run by British Veterinary Camelid
Society vet Dr Gina Bromage MA,Vet MB,DVM, MRVCS, and Dianne Summers founder of
the Alpaca and llama TB Support and Research Group.
We liaise directly with DEFRA AHVLA to provide the latest up to date information."This flyer can be downloaded and printed.
Please feel free to contact Dianne with any questions you may have. The website
offers a 24/7 free advice and support service . www.alpacatb.org
Bovine TB in Alpacas and Llamas For help and advice call Dianne on 01209 822422
email: gina@alpacatb.org or dianne@alpacatb.org

August 6th 2011 ~ "...according to a source close to the agencies developing
the oral vaccine, scientists have not encountered any problems and are on track
to complete by 2015"

An article in the
Guardian today is likely to cause weary annoyance to those despairing farmers
who just want to get on with the removal of infected badgers as quickly as possible.
It begins by giving the impression that injecting trapped badgers with vaccine is
a humane alternative to shooting - however, those who continue with the article
read:

"....Virologists have cast doubt on the 73.8% success rate attributed
to the injectable BCG vaccine. There is also no scientific proof yet that the injectable
vaccine in badgers reduces the level of transmission back to cattle."

This
is the point we reluctantly make below
since the efficacy of the injectable BCG vaccine could only be determined by vaccine
field-testing on a large scale over a long period of time. As the note in the Commons
Library by Dr Elena Ares points out: "Several thousand badgers would need to be
removed to allow the determination of the presence and severity of TB at detailed
post-mortem." The
article does however suggest that an oral vaccine, which would be left in bait
without the need for badgers to be trapped, may be closer than recent gloomy predictions
suggest. Defra is investing £20m in vaccine development. It would be cheering
to be able to have faith in the "source close to the agencies" who are apparently
claiming that research and development is still on track.
As for cattle, the future of vaccine still depends on the EU trade rules. "Britain
will need to convince its trading partners that its vaccinated cattle are safe and
can be exported. This will require a change in EU law." Nigel Gibbens is quoted
as saying he hopes this won't be "decades away".

August 4th 2011 ~Trace elements: "if one infected individual has a good immune
response, they will excrete fewer organisms and so the cycle of transmission is
steadily reduced and there are fewer organisms ( for example in TB in cattle) excreted
into the local environment."

An email from a farmer in the West Country asked yesterday :

".. The main
measure of TB infection is the skin test which relies on the animal that has met
the infection exhibiting some resistance to the disease. It would therefore seem
logical to me that the only benefit increased resistance to TB can confer on an
animal that has met the infection, is the greater certainty that it will show a
reaction to the test. How does that help, or am I missing the point?"

It is
a good point well worth making again that strong cattle who are able to throw off
the disease are still likely to be killed if the skin test shows that they have
met infection. The point of improving trace elements in the soil, however, is suggested
by an email received today from a microbiologist:

"... if you have mammals (or
all sorts ) that are nutritionally complete, they will have more chance of avoiding
infection if the cycle of excretion and numbers of organisms available. is reduced.
Conversely, animals/ humans that have discrete nutritional deficiency ( such as
Vitamin D, Selenium, copper, magnesium etc ) may look OK but be failing to deal
with infection as well as they could.
So we are not talking about complete protection of any one individual, but lowering
the whole burden of organisms available in the environment to cause infection and
onward transmission....."

August 4th 2011 ~ " I asked Danny if there were cases of farms using the trace
elements and still going down with Tb, and he said there were."

Sally at bovinetb.co.uk,
in kind reply to the query below about what, if any, research trails had taken place
to test the claims of Danny Goodwin Jones, drew our attention to a posting on her
site in
April this year in which she reports on a conversation she herself had with
Colonel Goodwin Jones:

"..Danny has evidence that treatments with trace elements,
particularly with selenium and iodine, can produce outstanding results. He even
maintains that restoring trace elements to an impoverished pasture cuts fertiliser
and vets' bills. I have spoken to several farmers who agree there has been improvement
since they started using trace elements to improve the health of their stock and
land. many of these have had previous problems with bTB in their herds and are now
clear. However, I asked Danny if there were cases of farms using the trace elements
and still going down with Tb and he said there were.
Danny has put a great deal of effort in over the years, sadly to no avail, trying
to get both Defra and WAG to undertake research and trials into the use of trace
elements. Under pressure from pharmaceutical interests and the veterinary industry,
the role of trace elements is dismissed."

August 3rd 2011 ~ "There is an association between bTB and high levels of iron
in the soil."

This is the conclusion of a paper by G V O'Donovan, and H J Milburn in a journal
of respiratory medicine "Thorax" published last year. Using information from the
British Geological Survey and geological mapping, rock and soil types and their
mineral contents were compared with density of cases of BTB.

"... Further work
is needed to determine levels of iron in affected cattle and its effect on immune
responses. ...Micronutrients could be one of these factors. Deficiencies, but also
excesses, may cause secondary immunodeficiency and infection related morbidity in
man. Different soil types contain different quantities of these trace elements and
this will be reflected in pasture, hay and silage."

August 3rd 2011 ~" I have no doubt that bTB can be greatly reduced if Wales
were to raise the health status of its cattle - and badgers"

Colonel Danny Goodwin Jones has always maintained that restoring trace elements
to an impoverished pasture cuts fertiliser and vets' bills, reduces problems with
lambing - and even produces more dairy heifer calves than bulls. Urging the Welsh
Assembly to look into the use of micro-nutrients or trace elements in tackling the
disease in badgers as well as cattle, he said:

"I have no doubt that bTB can
be greatly reduced if Wales were to raise the health status of its cattle - and
badgers - by improving micro nutrient levels in our land. It would cost only £5m
to treat all the pasture land in Wales and the effect on livestock and wildlife,
and on up the food chain to human health, would be enormous and save a great deal
more than that amount of money. My company isn't big enough to do that, but the
remedy is clear, and at the very least some form of intensive localised trial should
be implemented in a heavily infested bTB area as soon as possible. Early results
should be forthcoming very quickly, probably in a year or so."

August 3rd 2011 ~ It was SEVEN years ago that the Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons urged, "as the epidemic continues to accelerate Ministers may not be able
to afford the luxury of further research before taking action."

"... Sometimes, however, it is necessary to act on
the basis of imperfect information. The advice already available to the Government,
most recently from Professor Godfray's report, is that the transmission of bovine
TB from the wildlife reservoir must be dealt with. It would be good if transmission
could be controlled through husbandry measures, and Professor Godfray has suggested
a publicly-funded experiment in badger-proof farming. A good idea, but such an experiment
will inevitably take time and husbandry may prove not to be an answer. The same
comments apply to vaccination to control the disease in badgers. In the meanwhile
there is clear historical evidence that the systematic removal of all badgers in
an area around an outbreak can work. The evidence may not come up to the best scientific
standards, but as the epidemic continues to accelerate Ministers may not be able
to afford the luxury of further research before taking action. The publication of
the results of the Irish experiments should in any case cast fresh light on the
effectiveness of culling which is designed to remove all badgers from an area."

(It cannot really be wondered at that those farmers who have followed biosecurity
advice to the letter, who care for their animals in the best way possible, and are
still losing prized animals to disease spread by badgers known to be infected, are
in the depths of despair.)

August 3rd 2011 ~ "Under pressure from pharmaceutical interests, the role of
trace elements is dismissed. This is very damaging, because the scientific basis
for their activation of immune resistance is well established."

Another aspect of the issue remains trace element deficiences. From the EFRA
report on Bovine TB 30 June 2004 Memorandum submitted by Dr Helen Fullerton

1.
Trace Element Deficiencies
1.1 I propose that susceptibility to infection, and not exposure to it, is the critical
factor that makes cattle, and also badgers, go down with TB.
If the animals can be made resistant to infection, they will overcome the challenge
of the M.bovis bacilli. Resistance is primarily undermined by trace element deficiencies
and its loss is precipitated by stress: uncomfortable cubicles, lack of bedding,
standing in slurried yards, bullying at the feeders, transport, markets etc.
1.2 The animal immune system depends on optimum blood levels of five trace elements,
zinc, selenium, cobalt, copper and iodine. InUK cattle these are likely to be deficient
due to their relentless extraction from the soil by intensive cropping,with total
disregard for the need to put themback. In addition, the "hot spots" in SW England
where TB has resisted eradication, and the areas to which it is spreading due to
cattle mobility, are located on rock types intrinsically low in trace elements:
limestone/chalk, red sandstone and granite.
1.3 There is abundant evidence that trace elements confer health protection on farm
animals. Increasing their intake eliminates respiratory diseases,mastitis, foot
infections, infertility and failure of calves to thrive. This has been the experience
of Danny Goodwin-Jones, Trace Element Services, whose protocol for soil micro-nutrient
restoration has rescued farmers up and down UK from problems that vets could not
solve. There is also anecdotal evidence that trace element treated farms are free
of TB, while their neighbours are going down with it.

Read
report in full (Danny Goodwin-Jones)
found scientific papers from the US which appear to show that selenium and iodine
in the diet improves immunity to TB infection.)

August 1st 2011 ~ "a worrying number of other animals including pigs, sheep
and domestic cats becoming infected. "

The Farmers
Guardian today quotes part of a letter written by Shadow Welsh Assembly Minister
for Rural Affairs, Antoinette Sandbach, to the man responsible for overseeing the
eradication of bovine TB in Wales, Welsh Government's Minister for the Environment
and Sustainable Development, John Griffiths:

"...It is not just a problem for
cattle and badgers, increasingly it is spilling over into other species. Even without
a rigorous surveillance programme, Defra figures show a worrying number of other
animals including pigs, sheep and domestic cats becoming infected. I do not doubt
the Minister's sincerity in wanting to have a science-led approach, but many in
the farming industry will see it as just another delaying tactic ..."

While
even DEFRA's figures are worrying, the true figure of infection in other species
is considered this month by a blogger whose research work is second to none, who
has pointed out the "huge gaps between Defra's headline 'culture sample' table,
and the reality of deaths on the ground", has harrowing first hand knowledge of
losing prized animals, has seen what infected badgers and alpacas suffer, and fears
that their ability to infect other mammals, including cats and dogs - and now owners
- urgently needs greater understanding and action. bovinetb.blogspot.com.

August 1st 2011 ~ Dick Roper and his selenium feed solution is back in the news

The
Express published a story yesterday that closely echoes the post
here from April 2006 - so we republish it here:

Not one of his 600 pedigree cattle has tested
positive in more than six years. When he converted to organic in 1999 he noticed
that TB was much more of a probllem in his conventionally reared cattle. The organic
cattle were getting clover. The conventional cattle were getting a maize-based silage
- extremely low in selenium. Badgers also love maize. He wondered if by providing
maize, immune levels had dropped not only in the cattle but also in the local badgers
His findings have also been supported by an animal nutritionist (Danny Goodwin-Jones)
who has found scientific papers from the US which shows that selenium and iodine
in the diet improves immunity to TB infection.
Dick Roper now feeds the badgers on his farm twice yearly with feed of molasses
and minerals placed in a 20 kg bucket with its top cut off by the badger setts.
The Today Programme clip ends with a quotation from the author of "We want real
Food" and cultural editor of the Archers, Graham Harvey

"We need to look at
both why badgers and cattle are getting sick. And if it is a nutritional thing then
the remedy for cattle is exactly the same as the remedy for badgers. If we get the
nutrition right, they won't succumb to this disease."

The report on Today
Programme (by Tom Fielden) pointed out that very little research on the relationships
between mineral deficiency and immune system and tuberculosis has been done but
"if he's right, he may have stumbled on the answer that doesn't involve the slaughter
of thousands of Britain's badgers."

That was April 2006. It would be interesting
to know if anyone followed up the research suggested by Tom Fielden

July 30th 2011 ~ Grant available to help meet the costs of vaccination if farmers
want to try this. DEFRA will publish details "shortly"

" For some farmers and landowners, using vaccination may be the
preferred option for tackling bovine TB in badgers and licences to trap and vaccinate
badgers will continue to be available. Vaccination may also have a role in helping
to reduce the risks from perturbation caused by culling, when no other buffers are
available. To support its use in these circumstances, we propose to make available
up to £250,000 a year in grant funding to help meet the costs of vaccination.
Further details about how to apply for funding will be published shortly."

July 30th 2011 ~ Nigel Gibbens adds a note to 38 degrees website

This is a copy of his note in full.

"As Defra's Chief Veterinary Officer,
I'd like to correct some of the serious inaccuracies I've seen here.
The Randomised Badger Culling Trial shows conclusively that badgers contribute significantly
to bovine TB in cattle. A badger cull could reduce the incidence of bovine TB in
a 150km2 local area by an estimated 16%, equating to 47 cattle herd breakdowns prevented.
The estimated benefit was agreed by a group of eminent scientists http://archive.defra.gov.uk/fo...
Culling would only be part of the solution. Cattle measures - including routine
testing and surveillance, pre-movement testing, movement restrictions and removal
and slaughter of infected cattle - will remain the foundation of our TB Eradication
Programme.
Defra believes vaccines should be part of the solution too - but so far we don't
have a workable one. There's a licensed injectable vaccine for badgers, but there
are practical problems because of the need to catch and inject the badgers with
it and the benefits would take a long time to be seen - by which time the growing
bovine TB problem would be much worse.
The best option would be a usable oral badger vaccine, which we're working hard
to develop, but a useable vaccine is much further away than we thought and although
this remains a research priority, it may never be ready for widescale use."

July 30th 2011 ~ "...Under existing arrangements, farmers and landowners, individually
or collectively, can apply for a licence to trap and vaccinate badgers.."

102. Vaccination also has a role to play in tackling transmission
of disease from badgers to cattle, and since 1999, Defra has invested over £11
million on research into badger vaccines. As a result an injectable BCG badger vaccine
is now available for use on prescription, subject to a licence from Natural England.
In common with other prescription-only medicines, BadgerBCG must be prescribed for
use by a veterinary surgeon. Badger vaccination can be performed by a vet, or by
a non-veterinary "lay vaccinator" provided they have completed an approved training
course. Under existing arrangements, farmers and landowners, individually or collectively,
can apply for a licence to trap and vaccinate badgers.
103. Laboratory and field studies have demonstrated that vaccination of badgers
by injection with BCG significantly reduces the progression, severity and excretion
of TB infection. However, while we would expect vaccination of badger populations
to result in reduced transmission of TB to cattle, we currently have no direct experimental
evidence on this, other than from computer modelling. Therefore the precise contribution
badger vaccination could make to reducing disease in cattle is unknown. Determining
this in a scientifically robust way would require large-scale field trials and be
very costly."
.........
Badger vaccine deployment project
104. The vaccine is being used in a Defra-funded Badger Vaccine Deployment Project
in Gloucestershire. During the first trapping year more than 500 badgers were vaccinated
in the 100km2 project area. The project involves training operatives to use the
vaccine in the field and seeks to increase confidence in the use of injectable badger
vaccines, while looking at the practicalities of the vaccination process. The first
commercial training course in badger vaccination was run in October 2010 and more
courses are taking place this year.

It is very unfortunate that an oral vaccine
- which as DEFRA says, is "technically more difficult to formulate" looks still
so far away.

July 29th 2011 ~ "What is this scientific approach that people are being
asked to support? Where is it explained?" NFU asks 38 degrees

Some of the NFU responses to today's news of a public petition (see
below) are on the 38
degrees website. Among the points made, the NFU says

87% of respondents to the 38 degrees call for opinion means 87% of those who
replied - i.e. not 87% of the population.

Although 38 degrees claims "The government's own scientific advisers warn that
it won't solve the problem of TB in cattle" scientific advice as explained in the
consultation last December, and in a paper published by Defra in April, supports
badger controls and this is endorsed by the Chief Veterinary Officer of England
and the Defra Chief Scientist

."No one has ever suggested that a badger cull
alone would solve the problem of TB in cattle. It needs a comprehensive policy.
Bovine TB has never been tackled effectively without addressing a wildlife host,
where it exists."

The NFU points out that in order that culling should not make the problem worse
"an immense amount of effort has gone into devising a programme that will be co-ordinated,
sustained and simultaneous"

The government has not scrapped vaccination and anyone in an infected area will
be free to take up the option of injecting badgers if they so wish. Indeed, several
other voices of calm dissent are raised on the site, including a simple but graphic
plea to the animal welfare lobby to remember too the fate of pregnant cows who are
reactors- and of their unborn calves.

July 29th 2011 ~ Petition site 38 Degrees launches a public petition against
badger culls

This is accompanied by a large picture of a healthy badger. They say 87% of
those contacting the site voted for such a petition. (It is unfortunate that on
the first day anyone voting "No" was greeted with the message "Thank You. You voted
Yes." See below ) There are extracts
on the 38
degrees website of comments sent in by those opposed to any badger cull of which
perhaps the most intelligent is "While I would reluctantly support the badger cull
if I were convinced of its effectiveness, I can't help but feel that the government
has chosen the least expensive option rather than the best one."
If there were money and time enough, if the science had not been irretrievably muddied,
and had the problem of bTB been grasped firmly by the Ministry a long time ago,
the "best solution" might well have been found. The apparent public outrage may
now lead to another political impasse as well as genuine fear of violent measures
carried out by a minority among those who are so vociferously against violence to
badgers. DEFRA appears to have no intention of pursuing vaccination in the field
(although a licensed injectable vaccine is available for farmers in hotspots) and
is channeling any money there is towards the development of an oral vaccine - whose
year of expected use is always receding.

July 29th 2011 ~ And in the meantime?

"Dozens of lovely cattle with bloodlines going back generations have been destroyed
and I have shed many tears of rage and frustration..." wrote a farmer back in May
2009 when the accelerating problem had already been apparent for years

"...Now
other bolt-ons have appeared on Defra's 'don't do' list which is supposed to keep
herds free of TB. We don't share boundaries, equipment, access or grazing, but we
share badgers. Currently three nearby farms have breakdowns and we are again snarled
up in movement restrictions after two reactors in January....almost 40 tests in
8 years - which have achieved just what exactly?..."

And this farmer, like
so many others, is about to face tests yet again. In May 2009 the then Shadow Secretary
of State was quoted by the
Farmers Guardian

"The Conservatives understand the desperate need to take
action now and that is why we support the views of many farmers that a targeted
cull of badgers must be a part of the action necessary to tackle Bovine TB
This is an animal welfare issue. Everybody loses from the Government running away
from this problem - cattle are being slaughtered, badgers are suffering, farmers'
livelihoods are being damaged, and taxpayers are footing the bill.
We cannot go on slaughtering tens of thousands of cattle while ignoring the reservoir
of infection in wildlife.
Sick badgers are responsible for a significant number of herd breakdowns and unless
there is a policy to remove them we stand little chance of eradicating this terrible
disease..."

That was over three years ago. Petition writers may perhaps feel
grateful that they do not have to experience at first hand the "tears of rage and
frustration" decent farmers feel at their powerlessness while successive governments
have been kicking the issue down the road for many, many years.

July 27th 2011 ~ "Some members of that Committee went into the inquiry opposed
to a cull, but came round to that view having seen the evidence."

"Some members of that Committee went into the inquiry
opposed to a cull, but came round to that view having seen the evidence. Does she
agree that it would be great if those who have understandable doubts about a cull
could come to rural areas, such as Cornwall, and see the devastation on the ground
so that they could understand that we need to do something about this issue? Mrs Spelman: My hon. Friend makes a very good point....nothing compares to
visiting a farm in one of the worst affected areas and learning at first hand about
the devastation and heartache that repeatedly having to send cattle to slaughter
brings....Like anyone who loves nature, I love the badgers too, but we must be clear
about the humaneness and efficacy of what we are discussing. As regards new science,
the science published since 2007 by Christl Donnelly and peer reviewed is an important
factor in the decision. On the compensation, if farmers do not get their cattle
regularly tested in a timely fashion, as they are required to do, they will have
their compensation reduced. This is a balanced package and people must take responsibility.
The farming industry has shown its willingness to do that and I commend this balanced
package to the House.."

July 27th 2011 ~ "Why do so many people care about badgers being culled but
don't care a jot about the number of cattle being culled?"

This quotation, from Johann Tasker's FWI article today, is from a respondent
to the 38 degrees website.

"....Activists who claim to have scuppered Britain's
first super-dairy will decide today whether to campaign against the government's
badger cull plans.
The 38 Degrees campaign group is due to announce its decision following an online
discussion on Wednesday (27 July)...."

July 24th 2011 ~ More bTB in Cumbria. It appears that two cows sold from the
Penrith dairy herd in the months before the outbreak was discovered at Plumpton
Head Farm, have reacted to skin tests.

All cattle on the two farms where the reactors were found will now be tested.
It will be remembered that the outbreak of TB found in April (see
below) was found in a "closed" herd. 100 out of the 500 cows had to be killed.
No movements of cattle on or off the farm were reported - and, as everywhere else
now, all Cumbrian farmers are very cautious about where new stock comes from. It
would be interesting to see if the spoligotype was that found in farmed deer near
Ulverston - spoligotype 35. (See recent posts on Cumbria)
The herd had been tested "clear" 18 months previously, according to the Animal Health
and Veterinary Laboratories Agency but post-mortem examinations carried out then
on the slaughtered cattle caused vets concern over the length of time the disease
could have been present on the farm. The new positive tests show that this worry
was justified.
Robert Craig, NFU Cumbria county chairman, is quoted by The
Cumberland News : "Cumbria has been relatively free from bovine TB but the recent
outbreak in the Penrith area shows how it is as much an issue for Cumbria as it
is for Devon and Cornwall. Tackling the disease where it has become established
is vitally important to make sure it does not become established in this county."

July 22nd 2011 ~ Taken to task again... "We have to be realistic as well as
humane"

The Bovine TB badger cull question is an issue in which a neutral stance or
attempt to weigh up both sides of the argument tends to bring frustrated fire from
all sides.
A cogent argument today from those who favour a targeted badger cull is that since
there is NO CURE for the infected badgers and their only future is a downward spiral
and nasty death, it is both reasonable and humane to wipe out an infected sett.
We can't nurse the sick ones back to health. And as the infected
badgers wander onto farmland with grazing cows, the reality is that they spread
infection far, far more readily than do cows. Alpacas too - unfortunately - share
with badgers such a high level of infectiousness that the situation with alpacas
is now very grim.
As for the public outrage about badger culling, we were alarmed to be told that
the 38
degrees campaign website that asked for YES/NO responses to the loaded question
"Should we work together to protect badgers?" greeted a NO vote with the message:
"Thank You. You voted Yes"
(I see from Twitter, that this has happened to several people who wished to vote
"No")
This is - at best - extraordinarily unprofessional. We understand that the site
has "now fixed that mistake so shouldn't happen again".
Tuberculosis is a killer. In the sad absence of an effective vaccine that can be
widely administered, simply allowing the bacteria to spread is now threatening increasing
numbers in other species, more of our wildlife, and now our cats and dogs too. As
for the alpaca owners, two members of the Alpaca TB Support Group have now lost
their entire herd and several others have lost the majority of their herd. The DEFRA
table shows just 43 alpacas lost in 2010 and this is "very distressing", says Dianne,
"when just one of my group lost that number on his own". ( Please do read the email
from Dianne Summers the tireless fighter for camelids at www.alpacatb.org.)

July 21 2011 ~ Can we leave the healthy setts alone?

An email received today from the filmmaker Chris Chapman offers an interesting,
knowledgeable and humane look at the TB issue

" I think it true that most farmers
lack the necessary skills to identify sick setts. Byan Hill has spent a lifetime
studying them, and it was by going round with Bryan that the farmer who lost his
South Devon's, was shocked to find the extent of the disease on his farm. That's
not to say that these skills can't be learnt - I tried to show that in the film

badger poo right at the door of the sett

no signs of clean bedding

long clawed footprints

and a generally damp, unhealthy odour
were just some of the signs Bryan highlighted." The film, "The Way Forward" -
it can be watched online - is an important contribution to the issue and although
it deals with issues that many find very difficult even to think about, is actually
a lovely film and presents its views in a calm and helpful way.

July 20th 2011 ~ DEFRA's ".. comprehensive and balanced package of measures
to tackle TB in cattle, badgers and other animals, including the Government's view
that it is strongly minded to allow a science-led cull of badgers in the worst affected
areas".

DEFRA's Bovine
TB Eradication Programme for England dated July 2011 - a pdf file of 67 pages
- is now online. Extract: "...we have made some changes to the proposed policy in
an effort to address the concerns that have been raised, and we want to give key
stakeholders an opportunity to comment ... If the decision is to proceed, controlled
shooting as a method of badger control would then be piloted in the first year and
if this is found to be humane and effective by an independent scientific panel of
experts, only then would this policy be rolled out more widely.
We are continuing to invest heavily in research, in particular to develop a cattle
vaccine and an oral badger vaccine. However, these are still many years away ...."

July 19th 2011 ~ NFU senior farm policy adviser, John Royle: "Anybody that participates
in controlled shooting and cage trapping will have had specialist training on the
humane despatch of badgers from experts."

Mr Royle is taking part in the Farmers
Guardian live forum on today's announcement from Caroline Spelman. He added,
" They will also have proved that they are a proficient marksman to ensure that
they are familiar with and follow best practice guidance for carrying out a cull."

July 19th 2011 ~ NFU President Peter Kendall : "I join with farmers up and down
the country today in breathing an enormous sigh of relief.. "

"...that the Government has shown leadership in tackling this terrible disease.
This has never been about eradicating badgers; this is about eradicating disease.
Today is a massive step forward and I thank Defra and the Secretary of State for
the painstaking work that has gone into making what has been, I'm sure, a very tough
decision in the face of not inconsiderable opposition."

July 19th 2011 ~ Caroline Spelman "strongly minded" to permit a badger cull
in two pilot areas of England to take place next summer before being rolled out
to other TB hotspot areas

BVA president Harvey Locke has expressed relief that the announcement has not
been delayed until after Parliament's summer recess and says that the BVA and BCVA
have long argued for a targeted, humane badger cull to be used alongside stricter
cattle controls.

"We believe that failure to tackle wildlife sources of TB infection
has prolonged the presence and enhanced the spread of infection in all affected
species populations." (BVA
News Release)

Mrs Spelman would not confirm the location of the first two
pilots. She says she will be given potential cull areas by the farming industry
itself. Of course, no farmer can be forced to take part - but unless there is buy-in
from the farmers and landowners to allow at least 70% access to land in an designated
culling area, a licence won't be granted. Defra says that they must "consult further"
on licence conditions and to assess the effectiveness and humaneness of controlled
shooting to cull badgers. It would seem that there will be no legal badger culling
this year. The Farmers Guardian
report on today's announcement.

"....The vaccine has
to last long enough to take effect once it has been swallowed, but as badgers' stomachs
are so acidic and can break down food quickly an effective product has yet to be
found.... Scientists say finding bait that would only be eaten by badgers and not
by cattle - whose TB tests could be affected by the vaccine - was another problem"

This assumes, surely rather oddly, that bait would be placed within the confines
of where cows actually graze.
The study by F. Cagnacci and G Massei carried out in 2003 and published here
(pdf) on the feasibility of contraceptive-laden bait to keep numbers down :

"...Badgers removed 97.8% of baits. There was no evidence of bait uptake by
non-target species. Some 85% of the baits were immediately eaten at the baiting
station; caching was not observed although it cannot be excluded. In 1/3 of visits,
badgers consumed two or more baits...." (More)

Shooting
badgers by marksmen might seem the most humane option for culling - but in fact,
because badger skulls are very strong and their bodies thickly protected with a
layer of fat, a clean kill will not easily be achieved, especially by non-marksmen
farmers with shotguns.

July 17th 2011 ~ The claim of a "73.8% reduction positive blood tests in badgers"
examined again

A closer reading of the note in the Commons Library by Dr Elena Ares, entitled
Badgers Culling (sic) :

"..
In common with other species, BCG did not appear to prevent infection of badgers
subjected to experimental challenge, but did significantly reduce the overall disease
burden. BCG vaccination of badgers could comprise an important component of a comprehensive
programme of measures to control bovine TB in cattle. The results of the laboratory
and small-scale field studies do not lend themselves to giving a definitive figure
for BCG vaccine efficacy. This could only be determined by vaccine field-testing
on a large scale over a long period of time and several thousand badgers would need
to be removed to allow the determination of the presence and severity of TB at detailed
post-mortem. An oral badger vaccine, which may be a more practical option in terms
of field deployment, is still at the research stage and will not be available until
2015 at the earliest."

Unfortunately, this date continues to recede. As the
Telegraph reported on July 8th

Evidence has now emerged... showing an oral vaccine
to stop badgers getting bovine TB will not be ready until 2020. Even then, it will
take years for the vaccine to wipe out bovine TB in the badger population and therefore
stop the spread to cattle. Previously, it was thought an oral vaccine could be developed
by 2015, prompting calls for a cull to be delayed."

The disease is very much
on the march. Bovine TB has been identified in pigs in Wales and in Cornwall recently,
emphasising the fact that pigs are also susceptible to the disease. So (very much
so) are alpaca and llamas. There have also been recent cases of bTB in goats, ferrets,
cats, dogs and wild boar. (See
ProMed)

July 17th 2011~ "It's a no-win situation all way round." Sir David Attenborough

The
Guardian quotes Sir David who said there were "very serious consequences" of
allowing free shooting of badgers in the countryside at night "... but expressed
sympathy for farmers who saw a 7.5% rise in new incidents of TB in cattle last year.
Most farmers are in favour of a badger cull after controls over cattle movement,
the slaughter of infected cattle and better biosecurity on farms have failed to
stem the spread of the disease, which has cost the government more than £500m
in compensation over the past 10 years."

"It's a no-win situation all way round.
It sounds very pompous to say I have sympathy with farmers but one clearly does.
The poor farmer has to put down animals that he cares for daily. Who am I, a townie,
to tell people what to do or even to comment on what they do? All I'm saying is
the latest research seems to suggest that [a cull] is likely to make things worse
rather than better. Something has to be done. What has to be done is get a proper
vaccine to enable us to inoculate badger populations."

Absolutely - but the
wait is excruciating and in the meantime, not only are badgers dying without treatment
and unable to find food - but as Sir David says, "The poor farmer has to put down
animals that he cares for daily."

July 17th 2011~ "Something has to be done....but vaccination is the only long-term
solution to the problem," says Sir David Attenborough.

And while most people would profoundly agree, it is still the case that at present
there is no effective vaccine and farmers in the hotspots are increasingly desperate.
It is more than unfortunate that the
Guardian reporting of Sir David's statement on Thursday repeated the claim,
which DEFRA and Jim Paice denied in June this year (see Farmers
Guardian) that " A badger vaccine was licenced last year and field trials found
the BCG vaccine reduced the incidence of bovine TB in badgers by 73.8%" (Warmwell.com
itself was taken to task for repeating without checking this figure). Jim Paice
made it very clear that it was not correct :

"... He admitted that a research
paper published by Defra suggesting a 75 per cent reduction in TB levels in badgers
that had been vaccinated had been 'seriously misreported and misunderstood' and
had 'not helped' the debate..."

July 17th 2011~ bTB public responses from 2006

With thanks to @badgerfriendly
on Twitter (a useful source of non confrontational links and information) the pdf
file "Public Consultation on Controlling the Spread of Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle
in High Incidence Areas in England: Badger Culling - Summary
of Responses"

July 15th 2011~ Government ministers only have one day left to announce their
decision on cull

One wonders if the decision - which was to be given before the Summer recess
on Tuesday (19 July) - is being quietly shelved.
As the Farmers
Weekly says today:

"Failure to make an oral statement to MPs will leave
the government open to accusations that ministers are afraid of being held to account."

Farmers Weekly has set up a
dedicated channel for all stories connected to proposals for a badger cull.

July 14th 2011 ~ Feasibility of contraceptive bait

A study by F. Cagnacci and G Massei carried out in 2003 and published here
(pdf) in 2008 would seem to be worth urgent consideration. It highlighted how
the efficiency of leaving bait for badgers could be affected by social behaviour.
We read that :

"...Badgers removed 97.8% of baits. There was no evidence of
bait uptake by non-target species. Some 85% of the baits were immediately eaten
at the baiting station; caching was not observed although it cannot be excluded.
In 1/3 of visits, badgers consumed two or more baits...." (More)

If numbers can be controlled with contraceptives, then the free shooting of
badgers - even by marksmen who can ensure a clean kill - might be seen as unwise.
One wonders why a study undertaken eight years ago, part funded by DEFRA itself,
should apparently have led nowhere. The situation now is so desperate that the plight
of farmers and the bovine victims of an inflexible policy must surely move anyone
of sensitivity who is prepared to look at the situation from all angles. A study
thirteen years
ago in 1997 Fertility control as a means of controlling bovine tuberculosis
in badger (Meles meles) populations in south-west England: predictions from a spatial
stochastic simulation model. by White PC, Lewis AJ, and Harris S. concluded
that "whilst fertility control would not be a successful strategy for the control
of bovine tuberculosis in badgers if used alone, it could be effective if used with
culling as part of an integrated strategy." Nothing was done. The cost was considered
a drawback. But the cost of doing nothing - in financial, political, and emotional
terms - has been staggering.

The Presentation of the 5th /6th July 2011 - Standing Committee on the Food
Chain and Animal Health (SCOFCAH) PDF file is here.
Extract:

The eradication programme for Bovine TB for 2010 was implemented effectively.

Significant reduction in incidence of Bovine TB in 2010 compared with 2009:

Number of reactors down from 23,805 in 2009 to 20,211 i.e. (15% reduction)
9% reduction in Herd Incidence
9% reduction in APT
Lower incidence of disease is continuing into 2011

The report - or ppt presentation
rather - should be read in full
but as most people know, the Irish programme used "targeted badger removal under
licence where implicated in a breakdown" Meanwhile, their Wildlife Unit has been
investigating "the role of the badger in the spread of bovine tuberculosis" and,
in collaboration with UK, the Badger Vaccine Development Project is ongoing.
As usual, we read the disheartening proviso that "definitive conclusions will not
be available until 2014 at the earliest"

July 8th 2011 ~ " In the absence of an oral vaccine to prevent badgers spreading
TB, there does seem to be a case for controlled culling in the worst-affected areas"

Unfortunately, while rightly saying that the issue is an "emotive" one on both
sides, the leading
article in the Independent today, ahead of the expected announcement from Caroline
Spelman, fails to add that there is as yet no vaccine at all to prevent badgers
spreading TB (see expert email
here from virologist, wildlife advocate and organic farmer, Dr Watkins). It also
seems to feel that "the scientific advice" is both consistent and unequivocal. If
only it were. This afternoon, Caroline Spelman told the House of Commons that she
would "keep them informed" on the badger cull decision.

July 6th 2011 ~ .. lack of understanding never stopped an infectious disease
from spreading..."

"the false expectations about the BCG vaccine come from wishful thinking," explains
the farmer, virologist and wildlife conservationist, Dr Ruth Watkins, in an
email received today. It explains why vaccines for Bluetongue, FMD, rinderpest
etc. work so well to prevent infection, rendering the invading virus defunct - and
why, alas, there is no equivalent for bTB

" ...The T-cell response to mycobacteria
leads to the release of this molecule, gamma interferon. However a large amount
of mycobacterial antigen can switch off the T-cell response eventually (the infection
over time can be thought of as the accumulation of antigen) so antibody is made
rather than gamma interferon. This is useless...antibody is a marker of advanced
uncontrolled infection. .."

The email repays a close reading in
full for those who want to understand why, while bTB vaccines may be partially
useful, they are not able to prevent lung infection. "If disease in the lungs progresses
to cavities in the lungs so that shedding occurs from the lungs on the breath, the
infection of others by inhalation is not prevented, whether they are vaccinated
or not."

July 6th 2011 ~ vaccines under development: "... a more effective immune response
to active disease"

Even though BCG vaccine has never eliminated TB, Dr Watkin's email does hold
out hope for the near future. Recent developments in bTB vaccines being trialled
in mice suggest progress:

" The excitement of the new TB vaccine in development
with proteins expressed in the new vaccine that are not in BCG vaccine is that it
could evoke a more effective immune response to active disease; it could prevent
the disease of the lungs for instance that is the source of infectious shedding.
So far this is only in laboratory mice. This new vaccine might really make a difference
to the incidence of TB where diagnosis and treatment is not on offer- impoverished
human communities and to animals such as badgers, cattle and so on. "

July 5th 2011 ~ Unwelcome truths about currently available badger vaccines

An enormous amount of damage has been done by allowing false hope to be raised
on the subject of badger vaccines. As the posting from the bovinetb.blogspot.com
in December showed, 23 non-infected animals in Suffolk were used to trial vaccine
and then exposed to bacteria; 5 were given no vaccine and the others varying strengths:

".. postmortems showed all badgers to have visible lesions in several parts,
including lungs, lymph nodes etc. varying in severity. and m.bovis of the spoligotype
introduced experimentally (VLA 9 - 8 5 5 5 *3 3 3) was recovered from all 23 animals
in the trial.." Read
in full

We don't like reporting this - but it is no good pretending that
bTB vaccines are tried, tested and effective, as FMD vaccines are.
Jim Paice, in an
interview with the Farmers Guardian on June 14th pointed out that the research
paper published by Defra suggesting a 74% reduction in TB levels in badgers that
had been vaccinated had been "seriously misreported and misunderstood" and had "not
helped" the debate.
The EU having set its face against vaccination of cattle has meant the development
of bTB vaccines has lacked financial support - but also, as we and others have tried
to make clear, the bTB bacterium itself is so much more difficult to combat than
the FMD virus. Cows, badgers, alpacas and domestic animals are paying a terrible
price for the fact that bTB has been a political hot potato for so many years. It
is a great shame that certain groups have misled the warm-hearted public with false
hope about the efficacy of the present bTB vaccines.

July 5th 2011 ~ DEFRA is expected to give the go ahead for a licensed badger
cull in England within the next few days

"...speculation is rife that the decision will
be to sanction a licensed cull, organised and paid for by groups of farmers in TB
hotspot areas. ... culling will not start until next May or June, as there would
still be a number of details to be resolved. .... Culling is likely to be introduced
in a phased approach, with just one or two areas sanctioned initially...." Read
in full

Jim Paice, a farmer himself and well aware of the present horrible
situation for farmers, told the House of Commons that the "status quo, do nothing
agenda is not acceptable" when it comes to tackling bovine TB - and it seems likely
that Caroline Spelman and David Cameron are on board - particularly since Bob Watson,
Nigel Gibbens and others have concluded in this
report that the cull would have positive impact on disease in cattle, as long
as the conditions proposed in last autumn's consultation of using trapping or 'controlled
shooting', over heavily infected areas of at least 150sq.km continue for a minimum
of four years and boundaries are kept to in order to reduce badger perturbation.
See report (pdf) "Bovine
TB - Key conclusions from the meeting of scientific experts 4th April 2011.

July 4th 2011 ~ " Tuberculosis is not about badgers or cattle. And now the spillover
is affecting more and more animals, including pets and companion mammals"

"...the 'way out' as far as I can see, is to remove the
public's long distance comfort blanket of someone else's 'cattle' and substitute
' MY pet' or 'MY alpaca'. Only then will tuberculosis in a wildlife reservoir, become
their problem as much as it is for any cattle farmer.
.... We were hopeful that these figures for cats, dogs and companion mammals would
engage the public, and break the mythical comfort blanket of TB = cattle / badgers
or badgers /cattle. But in 2008, things started to stall. After many searching questions,
we did this posting last year, http://bovinetb.blogspot.com/2010/09/disappeared.html
which explains some of the disparity, but more has come to light since...."
Read in full

DEFRA's "convoluted
and insular" way of collating statistics, says the email, is is not helpful. "In
fact it's damned misleading if not duplicitous. But people are getting wise to this.
Slowly."

According to the Stroud
News and Journal: "... for the next three months the trust will be luring badgers
into traps with peanuts and injecting them with the vaccine. To prevent the badgers
from being vaccinated twice, they are marked...."
It would be encouraging to think that those badgers who are uninfected and young
enough for the vaccine to have some effect might be protected. However, there are
many questions still unresolved on the question of TB vaccines. Available vaccines,
such as the BCG vaccine, work only if given before exposure to the bacterium - and
not always then. As for cattle vaccines, Article 13 of EU Directive 78/52 requires
member states to ensure "anti- tuberculosis vaccination" is prohibited under their
eradication plans. This has undoubtedly made research and development of viable
badger and cattle vaccines for use in the EU seem a waste of time, effort and money.
Bovine TB is a particularly difficult bacterium to diagnose and combat - as was
explained here by
Dr Ruth Watkins, whose work of conservation with the wildlife on her own farm
in Wales is to be enormously admired.

July 3rd 2011 ~ "... Will the Minister update us?"

Harriett Baldwin: Wildlife in my constituency is suffering from tuberculosis,
a lingering death. Cattle are being slaughtered, and farmers are lying awake at
night worried that their herd might be next. Will the Minister update us on what
further steps the Government could take to bring the disease under control?

The
MP for West Worcestershire received this answer to her question on Friday:

Mr
Paice: My hon. Friend is right to stress the need for further policies to control
TB. As I said earlier, we will make announcements fairly soon - before the House
rises, we hope - on our proposals regarding badgers, and about wider cattle-to-cattle
measures. I assure my hon. Friend and the House that the status quo, do-nothing
agenda is not acceptable. Calculations show that if we do nothing and things stay
as they are, it will cost the taxpayer £1 billion over the next 10 years..."

July 1st 2011 ~ BVA again expresses its concern " that any further delay to
the implementation of a targeted cull will simply result in further devastation
to Welsh herds."

The British Veterinary Association, at the annual BVA Welsh dinner, held at
City Hall in Cardiff on Tuesday ( 28th June 2011) reiterated its disappointment
at the delays in implementing a badger cull to tackle bovine TB The President, Harvey
Locke said:

"As veterinary scientists we are fully committed to science-based
policy, but we believe that that work has already been done. We are concerned that
any further delay to the implementation of a targeted cull will simply result in
further devastation to Welsh herds. However, we do acknowledge your stated desire
that the review be completed within a short timeframe and we appreciate your commitment
to that. We are also very keen to see a strong veterinary representation on the
review panel."

June 30th 2011 ~ A decision has to be made by July 19th

The
Farmers Weekly reminds us that Caroline Spelman,who is believed to have recommended
a badger cull in TB areas, now needs to explain to Cabinet colleagues why the policy,
although unpleasant, is the only immediate way forward for desperate farmers in
the hotspots.
Yesterday's news of a second case of bovine TB in Cumbria (see below) underlines
the ever escalating situation - one which is largely misunderstood by people who
rightly hate the thought of trapping and killing badgers- but who perhaps forget
the painful consequences that the disease brings to infected badgers who spread
the bacteria so easily, the carnage it is causing in affected herds - and the misery
of those who care about all animals in distress. Affected farmers in Wales are appalled
at the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to halt a planned cull of badgers in
West Wales. As the FW points out: "The heads of three regional bovine TB eradication
boards in Wales have withdrawn their support in protest at the decision. John Owen,
Peredur Hughes and Robert Stevenson said they felt "entirely bypassed and badly
misled" by the government's decision to review the science behind the TB eradication
strategy rather than implement a cull."

June 29th 2011 ~ Grim news from Cumbria

News is coming in of another case of bovine TB at Penrith, close to the first
outbreak exactly two months
ago where more than 90 animals were slaughtered on a "closed" herd. The outbreak
there was a mystery. There had been no movements of cattle on or off the farm it
seems and the herd, according to the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency,
had been tested "clear" 18 months previously.
Today, the NFU says:

"Testing was initiated by Animal Health immediately following
the original TB breakdown and found no spread of the disease to neighbouring premises.
Since then, another animal on a neighbouring farm has tested positive."

Vets
are trying to determine whether any links can be traced between the two affected
farms but say it will be "several weeks" before a result is known.

June 27th 2011 ~ National Beef Association's Welsh members want an "anti-TB
campaign, that will attack the disease on all fronts, and be aimed at all sources"

The NBA press release says that it would also like the Welsh environment minister,
John Griffiths, to make sure that the review panel. appointed by chief scientist,
John Harres, is seen to be "open-minded and objective". The Association's Welsh
members are confident, says the release, " that the scientific panel will find in
favour of controlled badger removal and that this result should be anticipated so
there are no delays when the go-ahead is given". See full NBA
press release

"Farmers have expressed their frustration at Government delays on
a badger cull after the latest figures showed rising rates of TB infection in cattle.
The most recent official figures, for January to March this year, showed a 6.3%
increase in the number of new herds testing positive for bovine TB on the same period
last year. The National Farmers' Union said that in the worst affected areas, such
as Staffordshire, Shropshire and Dorset, the increase was over 30% on the previous
year. The national increase was 4.4% once a rise in the number of herds tested was
taken into account, the provisional figures revealed. The NFU said the figures showed
that "biosecurity" measures to keep cattle and feed away from wildlife such as badgers,
which are known to transmit the disease, and increased testing were not enough to
tackle the problem. NFU chief farm policy adviser John Royle said the coalition
Government's delay in bringing in the promised cull of badgers in areas which are
hotspots for the disease was "completely frustrating"....."

June 21st 2011 ~ The can has been kicked further down the road - yet again.
"The panel will report in the autumn."

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) is expressing "extreme disappointment"
after the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) announced yet another "review of the scientific
evidence base" In an oral statement the Welsh Environment and Sustainable Development
Minister, John Griffiths, said that the Chief Scientific Adviser Professor John
Harries will appoint an independent panel of experts to peer review the scientific
evidence. The panel will report in the autumn. Professor Bill Reilly, Past President
of the BVA, is quoted in the
BVA news release

"We are extremely disappointed that this additional review
has been deemed necessary by the new Government. If new evidence is presented it
must be considered, but we are not aware of any.
The Welsh Assembly Government has already taken extensive action to show that the
scientific basis for a badger cull as part of the bovine TB eradication plan is
robust. The facts have not changed and this is yet another look at the same evidence.
The BVA has made its position clear and the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales has
made her position clear. Further delays to the roll out of the eradication programme
will simply cause further devastation to Welsh cattle herds."

June 15th 2011 ~ Is there going to be a badger cull in England?

Alistair Driver summed up the latest situation in
this article in the Farmers Guardian yesterday. "... what is behind the delay
and does it mean, as some within the industry fear, that the policy is now in doubt?"
NFU TB spokesman Jan Rowe, who sits on the Defra-industry TB Eradication Group,
is quoted:

"It will be May 2012. The NFU hopes we can get four of five areas
ready this year to start next year."

Some of the the readers' comments are
interesting.

June 13th 2011 ~ Farmers may have to pay in advance for the entire four-year
licence

While the uncertainty about the government's plans to improve bTB policy won't
be known until the end of July we read in the Farmers
Guardian today that

".... the TB Eradication Group had been trying to persuade
Defra that it is 'extremely unlikely' farmers will want to get out of culling agreements.
Even if some do, others are likely to come in and take their place, he added. Mr
Rowe confirmed that even if Ministers do give the go ahead, there will be no culling
this year. The earliest possible date is May 2012, given that there would be a 'mini-consultation'
after the announcement, the length of time Natural England will take to process
licences and the prospect of a legal challenge, Mr Rowe predicted."

Meanwhile,
the misery continues. Farmers, like the owners of Hallmark
Boxter, are put through the grinding mill of worry and lack of trust, infected
badgers in the hotspots are spreading the disease to each other and to farms. Once
the slow moving bacterium takes a grim hold, the animals in the worst condition
are thrown out of the sett to die starving and alone - but by that time the sett
is irretrievably infected.

Owners of the champion bull, whose story
is below, were told late yesterday afternoon that he had passed a skin test
performed on Tuesday. There was no swelling at all when the skin test was performed.Now,
according to this report in the
Yorkshire Post DEFRA is demanding another blood test since the first one "clotted".

".. because there was once an infected animal in our herd, DEFRA is insisting
on the extra test - although the rest of the herd has been testing clean for ages
and if Boxster had ever been infected, he would be riddled with it by now.
DEFRA has failed to give us an understandable reason why they are treating him differently
or why they cannot wait 60 days. We want to establish whether they are quoting the
law at us or just their own policy.
We don't want to speculate on motives. We only want an end to all this. We have
allowed DEFRA to take two blood samples and they have made a mess of both, through
no fault of ours.."

June 7th 2011 ~ ".... the strain, stress, upset and sheer unhappiness of watching
their herds being destroyed, their livelihoods threatened and their farms placed
under the sterilising restrictions..."

Today, Geoffrey Cox, the MP for Torridge and West Devon, spoke with eloquence
and passion during the debate on Dairy Farming. His
speech is here (Hansard) and his heartfelt praise for Jim Paice's "empathy and
instinctive understanding" is followed by a plea. Extract:

"... Nevertheless,
the Minister knows what I am about to say next; it is time to deliver.
For six years, we have told farming communities in the UK that if the Conservative
party reached the corridors of Government we would take hold of the situation and
tackle this dire emergency... that we would not fail to have the moral courage to
bring the only solution that will deal with the problem for the areas I represent.
....knows well the corrosive, attritional, distressing and unhappy effects of bovine
TB. They not only affect the infected animals - the cattle that are slaughtered
and the badgers that die appalling deaths as their lungs literally liquefy as a
result of being infected by TB - but the farming families and communities who daily
have to endure the strain, stress, upset and sheer unhappiness of watching their
herds being destroyed, their livelihoods threatened and their farms placed under
the sterilising restrictions required by the bovine TB regulations.
... I have long advocated, and I long criticised the last Government for not implementing,
a full package of measures on the cattle side, biosecurity and all the areas of
animal husbandry that need to be improved, including vaccination when we can see
it. However, we cannot have a package of measures that does not include culling
where it is necessary, such as those densely infected hot-spot areas where the risk
assessment concludes that it is a necessary part of any prescription or solution.
We cannot exclude a cull. ....I do not propose for a moment that we apply a simplistic
solution; nor do I suggest that culling alone is the only prescription that will
bring success.
... bovine TB... important to the dairy farmers listening this morning in the places
that I represent, waiting anxiously for what the Minister is to say...."

June 7th 2011 ~ "there has to be a question mark in both directions.."

Mr Paice did indeed have a little to say about TB at the end of the debate.
There was nothing in it to reassure Mr Cox. Hansard.:

Mr Paice... we hope to make a full announcement before the House rises in July.
That will comprise a decision on the issue of badger culling as well as a wider
package of measures. He picked up the point that I have been reported as implying
that we might not be going ahead with a cull. As a lawyer, I am sure that he fully
understands that if one has not made a decision, there has to be a question mark
in both directions over what that decision might be. I say to him and hon. Members
that, as I expect is blatantly obvious, that decision is not just for me, but for
my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and, indeed, the Cabinet to make."

June 2011 ~ "Information from the United Kingdom on the results of implementation
of the bovine tuberculosis co-financed eradication programmes 2010"

This 8 page AHW-CIC SCoFCAH document, dated 31 May 2011 with information provided
by DEFRA is a pdf file that may
be accessed here. Unfortunately, there is little positive, encouraging or new
here. The summary mentions: "Government working in partnership with cattle industry
and veterinary profession to move to eradication" but one wonders if the farmers
and vets feel that much has been achieved.
The post immediately below this one, quoting DEFRA's words "The truth. Nothing has
changed" might be thought an apt description for what the "co-financed eradication
programmes" have produced so far - except for the deteriorating situation and lowered
morale among those most affected when TB tests come back posiitve. One can only
hope that the Government's "comprehensive and balanced TB Eradication Programme
for England" will, by the end of July, have something more positive to say.

May 2011 ~ DEFRA: " Media reports have suggested that the Government position
on badger culling has changed."

Under the headline "Myth
Busted" the DEFRA website reports: "The truth: Nothing has changed. We have
consistently said that we have yet to make a decision after the consultation on
badger control. Bovine TB is having a devastating effect, with nearly 25,000 cattle
in England slaughtered last year because of it. This is a complex and sensitive
issue, and there has been a delay to ensure the measures we put in place are the
right ones. We will announce a comprehensive and balanced TB Eradication Programme
for England by the end of July."

May 21st 2011 ~ 'question mark' ??

The
Telegraph wonders whether Mr Paice's remark on the BBC's Politics Show might
mean that the culling of badgers in the worst TB affected areas will be abandoned:

"We will be making our announcements about it in the not-too-distant future
once we're certain that, if we were to go ahead, we could resist the inevitable
judicial review that would come. There has to be a question-mark at this moment
in time until we make a final decision and an announcement."

The Telegraph
reminds readers that farmers had been assured both before and after the election
that the government would address the threat from infected badgers. It is not only
visibly sick badgers that are infectious and they can spread the disease long before
becoming visibly ill. A badger with kidney lesions can excrete up to 300,000 cfu
of bacteria in just 1ml of urine; a mere 70 bacteria from a single drop of infected
badger urine can provoke a positive skin test reaction, while just 70 colony forming
bTB bacteria are needed to infect a cow.
The assumption among those who threaten the Judicial Review seems to be - put bluntly
- that at all costs infected badgers should be left alone (where they can continue
to enlarge the wildlife infection pool) while the lives of cows and the livelihoods
of farmers are not worthy of similar concern and protection.
This protectiveness towards badgers would be admirable and the government attitude
would at least be understandable if there were proven vaccines for both cows and
wildlife. There are not and the EU forbids any use of TB vaccine for bovines. (In
contrast, there have for years been excellent and effective vaccines for foot and
mouth disease and the barriers put in the path of using them in the EU and US cannot,
it seems, be justified on any scientific grounds.)

May 21st 2011 ~ An announcement is now not expected until July.

At least in the UK the idea has been that badgers would be killed as humanely
as possible in a few precise areas. Compare this to the New Zealand plan in which
the notorious and slow-killing poison
1080 is to be dropped in "an extensive ground and aerial bovine possum control
operation north of Taupo" this
week in their own war against TB infected wildlife.

May 15th 2011 ~ "what has struck me throughout is the total lack of any sense
of urgency at Defra - or, for that matter, any realisation of how devastating the
effects of TB are becoming on farmers."

An article at www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk,
following the death of a dairy farmer in Gloucestershire, reveals some of the deep
frustration, suspicion and anger among those farmers affected:

"...There are
also worrying reports of how some senior civil servants who should be advising on
policy appear to be fully paid-up, card-carrying members of the pro-badger lobby,
and a climate of fear among Government vets, who are under immense pressure to keep
quiet about what they see and know about the problem and about the obvious solution,
as they see it. We are rapidly getting to the stage where we should be demanding
a public inquiry into Defra's handling of the TB issue over the last 10 years -
because I believe it to be totally without precedent in the way it has allowed a
controllable disease to spread and ruin the livelihood of hundreds of hard-working
farmers...."

Whatever one's position on the subject of badger culling in the
hotspots, the rising anger on both sides in the debate shows how unfortunate it
is that the disease has been allowed to become, for farmers, for vets, for those
who care about animal welfare and for politicians, such an increasingly explosive
issue. Read
article in full.

May 14th 2011 ~ "with Bovine TB responsible for the destruction of 38,000 cattle
last year, the farming industry is bitterly disappointed at another postponement."

An article in the Western
Morning News about extremist threats in the badger cull debate, says that when
a decision was postponed in February "for further assessment of the thousands of
responses that the Government had received" farmer organisations feared the Government
might do an about-turn on the whole issue - in the same way that it had done on
the sale of Forestry Commission property following a widespread public outcry -

"But within the past month the industry had been led to expect an announcement
about cull details some time next week. Yesterday, though, the Department for the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced there would be a further delay.
The Defra Business Plan stated that the end date for the period of the Government's
consideration of the TB consultation would now be July. With Parliament going into
the summer recess on July 19, an announcement is expected to be made before then
- but, with Bovine TB responsible for the destruction of 38,000 cattle last year,
the farming industry is bitterly disappointed at another postponement."

It
concludes with a quotation from NFU Director of Regions, Kevin Pearce:

"This
further delay is a blow and will only increase the level of frustration among cattle
farmers who are losing livestock to the disease on a daily basis."

May 13th 2011 ~" the public are blissfully unaware of the implications for them
and their pets of this damn disease"

An email just received comments on the article by Dr Ricardo de la Rua-Domenech,
mentioned below. He is based
at the Tuberculosis Division of DEFRA and the email reminds us that all the figures
for "other species" affected by bTB are sent to him :

Extract from email: "...
he knows full well of the hundreds that have died, been euthanised or failed tests.
I just don't 'get' his unhealthy resistance to publishing the true figures or making
the explanations so obtuse that even we don't understand. Example: Defra's "other
species TB sheet" has two tables. (pdf
file here from the DEFRA website)
The first is just a single (or two) culture samples from each outbreak or animal.
They include no test failures in group mammals, and no deaths - even if examined
by a vet.
Table 2 gives a higher figure, and from the explanation we thought it was "samples
pending". It isn't. It's a snapshot of TB infection / deaths, confirmed by gross
pathology after TB has been confirmed by the sample in Table 1. These animals will
have gone through an LVI or VI centres.So the totals in two tables should be added together - and they are still
a gross underestimate of total deaths, particularly in alpacas. One breeder has
lost over 100, another 54, in fifteen months. Animals which go direct to the knacker
/ incineration after slaughter are not counted at all. "

This is rather unsettling
since one would have thought Dr Ricardo de la Rua-Domenech would be fully aware
of all this - and yet the tables remain misleading. A quick puzzled glance will
lead most people to conclude that the numbers of other species killed by bovine
TB are very much lower than they really are. As our emailer concludes drily, "PR
is important, and the public are blissfully unaware of the implications for them
and their pets of this damn disease. By concentrating on cattle/ badgers: badgers/cattle,
one can only assume the intention is to keep it that way."

May 12th 2011 ~"We will make an announcement about a total package of measures
to combat this awful disease as soon as we possible can."

Hansard
Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab): The Protection
of Badgers Act 1992 states that a badger cull can be carried out only between May
and September. Given that any change to the Act would require secondary legislation,
which could be introduced only after 1 October, will the Minister say whether there
will be a badger cull this year? Mr Paice: The hon. Gentleman is aware that we published a consultation last
autumn and, as I said to the National Farmers Union annual general meeting, it produced
a number of challenges that we need to work through. We will make an announcement
about a total package of measures to combat this awful disease as soon as we possibly
can."

A PubMed article "Human
Mycobacterium bovis infection in the United Kingdom: Incidence, risks, control measures
and review of the zoonotic aspects of bovine tuberculosis" written by Dr Ricardo
de la Rua-Domenech at the Tuberculosis Division of DEFRA, seems to contradict DEFRA's
recent assessment that the human risk of TB is "very
low" Extract:

".... M. bovis also infects humans, causing zoonotic TB through
ingestion, inhalation and, less frequently, by contact with mucous membranes and
broken skin. Zoonotic TB is indistinguishable clinically or pathologically from
TB caused by M. tuberculosis. Differentiation between the causative organisms may
only be achieved by sophisticated laboratory methods involving bacteriological culture
of clinical specimens, followed by typing of isolates according to growth characteristics,
biochemical properties, routine resistance to pyrazinamide (PZA) and specific non-commercial
nucleic acid techniques.
All this makes it difficult to accurately estimate the proportion of human TB cases
caused by M. bovis infection...
Given the increasing numbers of cattle herds being affected each year, physicians
and other public health professionals must remember that zoonotic TB is not just
a disease of the past. A significant risk of M. bovis infection remains in certain
segments of the UK population...."

May 8th 2011 ~ Bovine TB "an under-appreciated cause of disease and death in
humans"

Virtually all warm-blooded animals are susceptible to bovine TB. In addition
to cows, the disease can attack pigs, sheep and camelids; wildlife such as badgers
and deer; pets including cats and dogs. Bovine TB was found in feral wild boar for
first time in UK last year (Guardian)
Humans too can harbour the bTB bacterium and suffer from the disease. From various
informed sources we have come to believe that the risk to humans from bTB may be
greater than the "very
low" that DEFRA suggests. The BBC
here reported in 2007

"Experts told The Lancet that bovine TB was an under-appreciated
cause of disease and death in humans."

mammals.
If an animal is confirmed as infected, the (human) Health Protection Agency does
get informed. However, this does not happen in reverse. When people get TB rarely
is strain typing undertaken, and in only very few cases is the VLA contacted.
Student doctors are still taught that 'unpasteurised milk' or foreign travel' is
the source of TB so the UK medical profession in general may be unaware of the risk
to people either directly or from close contact with wildlife, pets or companion
mammals. BCG vaccine is no longer universally given at school age. The only official
measures to control bTB have been directed solely at cows. Accordingly, bTB has
spread so far and so fast that levels of bTB bacteria in the environment are increasing
exponentially. TB progression in a healthy person is slow; bacteria can wall themselves
up and sit quietly for decades before exploding into full blown disease. According
to The
Nation this month, mycobacterium bovis, the cause of bovine tuberculosis

"...may cause as high as 25.8 percent of tuberculosis in human beings. In Europe,
according to reports, mycobacterium bovis is the cause for almost 50 percent of
cervical lymph adenitis cases in children."

May 7th 2011 ~ Hallmark Boxter: DEFRA statement "We have decided not to appeal.
..our immediate priority is to continue to work with the owners of Boxster to resolve
the TB problem in their herd."

There is no TB problem in the Jackson's herd, and the idea that DEFRA has been
"working with the owners" is perhaps an odd way of describing the row. DEFRA's statement
evidently infuriated the farmer, Mr Jackson, who is quoted in the Yorkshire
Post :

"I haven't got a TB problem. I have had seven consecutive all-clears,
which involved Defra vets walking past Boxster to the rest of the herd and refusing
to give him the re-test we asked for in the first place.
Officially, the positive test on him is null and void. He is only still in quarantine
because I am voluntarily going along with Defra's instructions, although they are
driving me to the point of explosion."

DEFRA has not yet paid them the £15,000
downpayment on his costs ordered by Mr Justice McCombe to be paid within 14 days
(See below) on April 14th.

May 6th 2011 ~ The slaughter figures are not decreasing

DEFRA figures for January show that ther number of cattle slaughtered across
Britain because of bovine TB in January was up by more than a third, compared with
a year ago. Today's article and reader comments at
Farmers Guardian attempt to put the figure in perspective.

April 30th 2011 ~ Received from Dianne Summers and Dr Gina Bromage of the Camelid
Tb Support Group

They write to tell us the website www.alpacatb.org
has been updated in the following Sections:

1. News
2. Reducing the risk - a) Increase in Camelid Tb and b) Free Badger and Farm Bio
Security Surveys available from South West TB Farm advisory Service.
3. The effects of TB
4. Skin Test side effects (in the You have TB in your herd what's next section)

They write, "We have to give a huge thank you to Mike Birch who not only set
up our web site free of charge but updates it at no cost to the TB Support Group.
We cannot thank him enough for all his work. No money from your kind donations have
gone towards this website. Thank you to all the members of the TB Support Group
who have given their data to make this website possible."

April 30th 2011 ~ Closed farm near Penrith in Cumbria - a TB mystery

As the Farmers
Weekly says, Cumbria is facing its 1st large-scale outbreak of bovine tuberculosis
- but this is a "closed" herd. No movements of cattle on or off the farm have been
reported and there seems no indication that any wildlife in the area has become
infected. The herd had been tested "clear" 18 months ago, according to the Animal
Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency. But post-mortem examinations carried
out on the slaughtered cattle this week have caused vets concern over the length
of time the disease may have been present on the farm.
Read article
See also the article at the Farmers
Guardian. Some of the comments are particularly interesting too for the light
they throw on the danger to humans from endemic bTB - and about the growing rise
in drug-resistant cases spreading around the world (See also Guardian)

April 27th 2011 ~ Make no mistake: bovine TB is out of control and is the single
biggest threat facing the British livestock industry.

Peter Kendall in the
Guardian :"the NFU believes it is important that all the available evidence
from the Randomised Badger Culling Trials is considered - not just that included
in the Independent Science Group report at the end of the culling periods, which
shows there was a decrease in the number of herds infected in the surrounding areas.
Make no mistake: bovine TB is out of control and is the single biggest threat facing
the British livestock industry. Ill-informed comments do nothing to address the
real problems farmers are facing on the ground, whether in their businesses directly,
or in the devastating emotional impact on farming families." Read
in full

April 25th 2011 ~ Badgers can survive, maintain body weight, and breed - while
shedding that lethal load of 300,000 units of tb per 1 ml of pee into the environment.

"It's only during the very final stages of
the tb disease cycle that it crawls around half dead, and finally dies horribly
from suppurating abscesses throughout its emaciated body.
Farmers see them... They find them huddled in farm buildings, excluded from their
family group, seeking food and shelter - anywhere. But by that time they'll have
infected half the cattle in the area."

It is heartbreaking that it is the very
animal lovers who want to protect our much loved wild mammals, but who are woefully
ill informed about the realities of bTB, who will, by their anguished appeals against
culling, condemn even more animals to death. They see healthy badgers on Badger
Trust literature and collecting boxes - but are not aware of the realities of badger
infection and death. Here are some of the unwelcome
facts that most prefer to ignore.

April 21st 2011 ~ "Bovine" tuberculosis is not a disease of cattle; it affects
many mammals and human beings.

A very different view from that taken in the report below is given on the always
readable and well-informed bovinetb.blogspot.com.
The most recent post points out that - tragically unlike foot and mouth and bluetongue
- vaccination against bTB is simply not a Holy Grail (as we all wish it were.) Extract:

"...what has the progressive lack of action by successive administrations on
our particular wildlife reservoir over the last three decades, (and none at all
since 1997) achieved? Put another way, what are these tested, slaughtered sentinels
telling us? And who's listening with ears tight shut?
In the last few years,
the overspill of what Defra euphemistically call 'environmental TB' has gone
way beyond cattle. And despite only counting culture samples, and only taking one
of those, many group animals and domestic pets are dying in their hundreds.
These victims include mammals as diverse as
free range pigs, the owners of whom now a TB leaflet all to themselves, and
bison.
A couple of years ago, we highlighted the spillover into domestic
cats and a high profile case in rare
breed goats. But the biggest problem has arrived at the door of the highly susceptible
GB
alpaca population, with a small group of owners now reporting several hundred
deaths..." read
in full

( It is extremely unfortunate that the splendidly humane people
who deplore what they see as cruelty to badgers are not equally concerned about
the misery TB brings to other animals, badgers included, and appear doggedly unaware
of the very real difficulties in supposedly quick-fix solutions - or of doing nothing
at all.)

April 19th/20th 2011 ~ RETHINK Bovine TB

We have heard from a new research group privately funded by people "with an
interest in examining public policy as it affects agriculture, animal diseases,
animal welfare and the financial viability of farming."
The report says it aims to

"stimulate discussion and bring Bovine TB policy,
essentially unchanged for many decades, rapidly into the twenty first century. We
look forward to and welcome comments and criticism from all who read it. Please
contact Michael Ritchie, Press Officer on 0207 993 5404 or email: farming at rethinkbtb.org
with your comments and feedback."

But the Farmers Guardian article today that reported: "A four-year badger vaccination
programme, which could pave the way to the widespread use of vaccination as a way
of tackling bovine TB in cattle, will get underway next month on 18 farms on the
National Trust's Killerton estate in Devon" seems to have been withdrawn. Update:
The
Guardian has the story (Wednesday)

"...badgers will be caught in live traps,
injected with the licensed BCG vaccine, marked so they will not be injected again
and released unharmed. Field trials found the BCG vaccine reduced the incidence
of bovine TB in badgers by 73.8%.
John Kittow, a tenant farmer on the Killerton Estate, welcomed the vaccine but said
a cull was still needed as part of a package of measures to bring bovine TB under
control. ..Kittow's farm is a closed herd of animals he breeds himself, with only
disease-free bulls brought in, and he is convinced that soaring badger numbers have
spread the disease among his 200-strong organic dairy herd.
Thirty years ago, there was no bovine TB and the local badger population was modest
on his farm. Now he sees badgers in daylight and has been barred from selling cattle
in six of the past 10 years because of TB.

"I'm in favour of anybody that's
prepared to do something to move on the impasse of bovine TB," he said. "Vaccination
will be a good tool in the arsenal but you still need a way of keeping the badger
population under control and at the same time preventing cruelty because no one
wants any cruelty towards badgers."

The shut downs and slaughter of diseased
cattle have cost Kittow more than £150,000...."

Read
in full It will be remembered that five similar schemes were
cancelled last year "on cost grounds" and that the time scale for a viable oral
vaccine for susceptible species keeps receding; the nature of the bacterium makes
vaccine development a continuing problem. As James Paice says, "There are still
significant technical and regulatory challenges to overcome before a cattle vaccine
would be available for widespread use. This includes the need to change EU legislation."
The same old problem of the EU mindset - and while the ban continues there can
hardly be any incentive in Europe for cattle vaccines to be developed.

April 16th 2011 ~ Another note on Hallmark Boxter

We hear from another dairy farmer:

"...The bull failed gammaIFN - which
is not unusual. But this was after a catalogue of errors in testing several animals
too big to fit into Mr. Jackson's crush. Vials dropped, vials mixed, you name it
- it happened.
But one for Dr. Fink re semen. If a farm is under TB restriction, then no embryo
work on females can be undertaken, and if a bull has EVER been on a farm while it
it has been under a TB2 restriction, then no semen from it can be sold out of the
UK. Ever. So it makes collection unviable. While the bull is in limbo like this,
no semen company could legally touch him for collection anyway, as technically he
is a TB reactor, having failed a designated test, albeit a secondary one. North
calls it 'proof unto itself'. The test could have been carried out by a one eyed
maverick, on the wrong farm and on the wrong animal, but the documentation stands.
Or stood, in this case.
So what happens now, I don't know. Defra could not afford to lose this - but they
have."

Many thanks for this clarification. We learn too that the camelids treated
with Isoniazid (isonicotinic acid hydrazide), the antimicrobial that has been used
as a first-line agent for prophylaxis and treatment of tuberculosis since 1952,
have not survived. As for poor Boxter, the rules are that gammaIFN is a secondary
test, and even if he passed that, he would still have to pass a skin test to be
cleared. As we remember from the bovineTB
Blogspot posting April 22, 2008 "His master's voice - GammaIFN"

"..... Mr.
Maidment to - err, retest his cattle. Defra still shot the cattle. The gammaIFN
pilot study was a farce, and then this blasted test was launched on the industry
with Defra knowing that it had a very dodgy sensitivety."

The posting is well
worth reading
in full. Realising that it is three years old and yet so very little - still
- has changed for dairy farmers, does nothing to dispel the frustration and dismay.

April 16th 2011 ~ a complete lack of imagination and enterprise

An email from Dr Colin Fink
(link mended) sums up what must be the reaction of many to the expensive court action
taken by DEFRA in the case of the prize bull, Hallmark Boxter - kept in isolation
- whose owner was not permitted a retest when, it seems, DEFRA's officials conducting
the first test had not followed the permitted procedure.

April 14th 2011 ~ Judge, quashing slaughter notice on prize-winning bull, tells
DEFRA it had made "a policy mountain out of what was a farm molehill".

Mr Justice McCombe has reprieved Hallmark Boxter (see below)
The bull had tested TB-positive last April.but his owner said the sample was invalid
because DEFRA officials had not followed the correct procedures. He wanted the sample
retaken, even offering to pay the costs. In reprieving the bull, the judge refused
DEFRA permission to appeal, although the Department can still apply to the Court
of Appeal. The case will cost £15,000 to be paid by DEFRA within 14 days.
Full story at
Fwi

March 31st 2011 ~ " This includes the need to change EU legislation" James Paice

In answer to a question about bTB vaccination asked yesterday, Mr Paice said,

"... DEFRA has invested around £18 million into the development of a cattle
vaccine and associated diagnostic tools. There are still significant technical and
regulatory challenges to overcome before a cattle vaccine would be available for
widespread use. This includes the need to change EU legislation. We therefore anticipate
that a cattle TB vaccine could not be used in the field before 2015 at the earliest."

He had also told the House that DEFRA would ".. publish a comprehensive and
balanced bovine TB eradication programme for England as soon as possible." Hansard

March 31st 2011 ~Ear tag swapping "Mr Paice stressed the illegal activity was
not widespread but was being carried out by 'a very small minority'."

The Farmers
Guardian reports on an investigation by Defra and Trading Standards which "found
a small number farmers had swapped eartags from TB positive cattle with less productive
animals, sending them to slaughter and retaining the infected animals on the farm.
In a direct response to the findings, farm Minister Jim Paice announced a new regime
which will see cattle testing positive for TB immediately tagged and a sample of
their DNA retained by Animal Health. These samples will then be cross-checked at
random, or where fraud is suspected, against the DNA of animals sent to slaughter."

March 15th 2011 ~ "Four years after the badger culling trial had began, 2001
saw one of the biggest challenges facing not just farming, but the UK as a whole...

...The foot-and-mouth outbreak prevented routine testing of bovine TB and infected
cattle were not able to identified and removed." An article in www.tivertonpeople.co.uk
attempts to give a "brief history of Bovine TB and badger culling in the United
Kingdom". (In 2006 Muckspreader
(Private Eye) wrote:

"... as the vets have now comprehensively exposed, the
Krebs trials were only a pseudo-scientific charade, never designed to work. Even
Defra admits that the percentage of badgers culled was sometimes as low as 20 percent.
.. the tragedy rolls on: for farmers, for cattle, for taxpayers, and for all those
sick badgers, condemned to a lingering death."

March 10th 2011 ~ BVA : " failure to tackle wildlife sources of TB infection
has prolonged the presence of the disease in all affected species populations".

The British Veterinary Association's Statement on bTB control can be read
in full here. Its realistic advice concludes with the recommendation:

"Research
into the best use of current diagnostic techniques and the development of new diagnostic
techniques is of the utmost importance as is the further development and deployment
of vaccines for the control of bTB."

However, given that Wales' Rural Affairs
Minister Elin Jones yesterday laid the Badger (Control Area) (Wales) Order 2011,
which allows the culling of badgers in the area of West Wales known as the "Intensive
Action Area" as part of the Welsh Assembly Government's programme to eradicate bovine
TB and has also announced new controls to deal with TB in non-bovines, which include
camelids, goats and deer, Harvey Locke, President of the BVA, said:

"The BVA
believes that failure to tackle wildlife sources of TB infection has prolonged the
presence of the disease in all affected species populations.... We hope this action
in Wales will focus attention on what is happening in England as we await Defra's
response to its consultation on tackling TB. While the delay in the announcement
is frustrating for all those vets and farmers dealing with the disease, we understand
that it is vital that the Government gets it right and bases any decision on sound
science."

March 7th 2011 ~ "...it's not just the farming industry that has to carry the
responsibility. Other organisations have an equal contribution to make"

Laudable words from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, which is to begin vaccinating
badgers this summer where badgers and cattle co-exist in its nature reserves (Alistair
Driver reports this in the FG
today).
Although this will be seen by many as a very positive step, it has to be remembered
that present vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, work only if given before exposure
to the bacterium. See below.Once again we have
the Catch 22 situation with vaccine R&D that money is unlikely to be spent on
development if the companies fear there is no market for the improved product. EU
Legislation currently prevents the use of vaccines in cattle, and authorisation
from Europe is needed to change that.
The more positive news is that researchers at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen,
Denmark, have been testing an experimental TB vaccine in mice aimed at offering
protection both before and after exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
It targets the TB bacterium in the late stage of infection and prevents reactivation
"by combining early-expressed antigens with proteins that are expressed as the bacteria
adjust to persisting in a host with a fully developed adaptive immune system." jama.ama-assn.org

a. Sustained (at least annual), undertaken on a regular basis over a period
of at least 4 years in order to achieve low local badger populations in high TB
incidence areas;
b. Over a large area (the evidence suggests a minimum area of 150 km2);
c. Conducted where land access is over 70% of the area;
d. Effective and humane and conducted by competent operators; and
e. Where possible, conducted in areas with boundaries or buffers (such as motorways,
conurbations, coast, and substantial rivers) around the culled area to mitigate
any risks from the perturbation effect.

The licensed Badger BCG vaccine could
also be used as a tool to mitigate the negative effects of perturbation. This is
likely to be beneficial but not fully protective against the negative effects of
perturbation. Immunity takes time to develop and so vaccination would need to precede
culling. There is limited evidence about the impact of vaccination in field conditions."

All worthy advice - but one's heart sinks at point 41:

"Training in capture
and culling techniques will be needed to ensure that the operators are competent
and that culling is as effective as possible, in order to minimise perturbation.
Education will also help to ensure understanding of the risks of inefficient culling
and ensure adherence to welfare requirements."

suggesting just how theoretical
and far from immediately applicable all this is at present.

Simpler advice is contained in an informed and interesting email received today
from a desperate dairy farmer:

"...we need to concentrate efforts at vaccination
on badgers testing clear (as shown by cattle tests ) and stop shilly shallying around
the desperately infected ones. There really is no other way, and it doesn't have
to be 'wipe out' over large areas either. As long as the whole group is removed,
quickly, then perturbation does not occur.
I favour using PCR to identify infected setts, by air, urine or sputum (not faeces)
but until Defra get their act together, a map of cattle tests in the area, with
an overlay of badger territories will do just as well, with bait marking to back
up where problems are coming from.
Perturbation was phenomenon caused by the RBCT's (Randomised Badger Culling Trial)
ad hoc forays into a grossly infected population - for 8 nights only,
using cage traps, many of which were interfered with or stolen, with badger inside."

February 16th 2011 ~ At the NFU Conference, James Paice has warned farmers of
a 'whole raft of issues'

More detail as soon as possible - but it sounds as though Mr Paice is warning
farmers at the conference that there will be no badger cull any time soon in England.
Update: Farmers Guardian

"The Government decision on introducing a badger cull
in England is on hold while a 'whole range' of obstacles are addressed, Farming
Minister Jim Paice has told the NFU conference. Ministers had hoped to announce
a cull as part of a wider package of bovine TB control measures this month but the
decision is now on hold, probably until May at the earliest. The outcome of the
decision, which once appeared to be a foregone conclusion, now appears in the balance....
the challenge of developing a robust mechanism to ensure the licence conditions
are adhered to .... the conditions attached to the licence
...the role of vaccination in protecting those areas from infected badgers.
..how various security issues are addressed, including the threat of activists.."

Caroline Spelman has thanked farmers for their "patience on bovine TB" and says
"We need to get this right, so we need to follow the process very carefully." There
has been speculation that Defra would be in a position to announce its decision
on plans for a badger cull in England in February. This is unlikely, an announcement
in late Spring/early Summer is now considered more likely.
(One Tweeter has commented that Ms Spelman reminded him of a schoolteacher whose
delivery was "flat" after NFU president Peter Kendall's "excellent" speech, and
another "Spelman's analogy for the role of farmers in economic recovery: green bricks...farmers
are the brick layers..." Another sums up the disappointment with the Coalition government:
"You would have thought the first NFU conf with a Tory minister for some years would
be a love-in. Doesn't feel that way...." To hear the most interesting snippets from
the NFU conference use Twitter search term #NFU11. News in real time. Extremely
useful.)
Caroline Spelman's full speech is here (Word
document)

January 26th/27th 2011 ~ TB testing up for tender

Dr Ruth Watkins writes today:

" I am not quite clear what the situation
is with the vets in Bulgaria but it sounds as though they will be prevented from
working with cloven hoofed animals for months. This seems a dreadful state of affairs,
for the vets too - out of work.
And in the UK? There is bidding to take place for TB testing in the UK which - if
the local vets already doing it are unsuccessful - will have huge consequences for
the large animal vets in parts of the countryside. I don't really want out of work
Bulgarian vets doing the work on the cheap rather than my local vet whom I trust.
The result of state vets, who have nothing to do with pathology and TB work in the
lab, being in charge of the field test results, is dire in the UK."

We see
that DEFRA is pointing out on the
relevant page that the "Changes to the procurement of professional veterinary
services" is "necessary in order to comply with the requirements of European regulations
and UK national law..." The Questions and Answers hardly fill one with confidence
about the details of the scheme - particularly when one reads a sentence such as
: " at this time of stringent controls over public expenditure, it is very important
that the taxpayer's interest is protected."

January 24th 2011 ~ "A vaccine which can both protect against initial infection
and protect from a breakdown of infection into disease is a major breakthrough."

Current vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, work only if given before exposure
to the bacterium. News last night
from the BBC describes a new vaccine, tested so far only on mice, by a team
at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen

" combines proteins that trigger
an immune response to both the active and latent forms of Mycobacterium."

Professor
Francis Drobniewski, Director of the Health Protection Agency's National Mycobacterium
Reference Laboratory is quoted: "This is an exciting and thoughtful piece of research.
The existing BCG vaccine is cheap, safe, widely used but of limited efficacy." The
article looks at the issue from the standpoint of human health - but veterinary
scientists will be watching with interest.

January 23rd 2011 ~ "Changes in Tb controls from 1st January" do not apply to
camelids

Dianne Summers writes:

"When the BAS email went out I was inundated with
calls and emails from camelid owners including Europe who because of the email presumed
that camelids now fall under this new legislation. I must admit even I was confused.
I apologise for not replying to those that contacted me individually but before
I release any information regarding DEFRA/AH policy I always check with Senior Officials
at DEFRA first. I have checked with Senior officials at Tb Policy at DEFRA and they
have confirmed this DOES NOT apply to camelids. Both myself and Defra have notified
BAS and I have asked BAS to also send out another email to the members to clarify
this. The changes apply only to cattle, farmed buffalo and farmed bison herds, which
(unlike camelids and other non-bovine farmed animals) are within the scope of EU
Directive 64/432/EEC and, therefore, subject to mandatory routine TB surveillance
by tuberculin skin testing at regular intervals. There are no 'officially' TB free
herds of camelids in the UK for the simple reason that they are not routinely screened
for TB with a validated ante-mortem test as most cattle herds are, plus there are
no agreed criteria for designating camelid herds as 'OTF' Officially Tb free).
Those that are NOT currently subject to movement restrictions due to an infection
confirmed by VLA should at best be regarded as 'TB status unknown'

She added
that camelids are still not subject to routine testing. Current TB policy relating
to camelids which was updated recently can be found on the website www.alpacatb.org.
Thanks are due, as ever, to Dianne.

January 23rd 2011 ~ "Boxy" the bull reprieved while his owner makes one last
bid for a re-test

Hallmark Boxter is an extremely valuable prize-winning British Blonde bull.
It tested positive for TB in April and was due to be slaughtered last Wednesday.
However, a High Court judge has allowed time for his owner, Ken Jackson, to appeal
on the grounds that the blood sample had been wrongly carried out last April. Evidence
was heard in court from Professor Paul Torgerson that the sample might well have
been contaminated.
See FWi

See Farmers
Weekly ... the ASA ruled that claims made in the advertisements breached either
truthfulness, substantiation and matters of opinion codes on nine occasions.
These claims included false assertions that the proposed badger cull in west Wales
had "no scientific justification" and that it would "exterminate a native breeding
species"..."

December 20th 2010 ~ ". ..cheaper than any attempt at culling and much more
effective at reducing population and the presence of diseased animals..."

In all the gloom of the understandably desperate desire of culling on one side
and the almost wilful lack of comprehension on the other, comes the relief of an
informed email from Dr Colin Fink that looks constructively at what is really currently
possible, desirable and practicable. Extract:

"all I can do is reiterate that
we have no decent science for differentiating carriage from clinical disease ( and
thus excretion of the organism) the promise of vaccine ( as we have at present)
is illusory, and for cattle where it will render all of them skin test positive,
so preventing even our present poor test for previous exposure to the organism,
no longer a discriminator (but it has never been useful for testing for clinical
disease in cattle, badgers or any other mammal).
The skin test is of some minor use for suggesting a very strong white cell response
( and potential clinical disease) in man, but some with widespread disease, like
cattle or Alpacas, show no response.
What I would do is establish badger feeding stations and give them hormones to stop
oestrus, so reducing the population by natural loss. Also I would give this decent
food with triple antibiotics. It would need some coordination but would be cheaper
than any attempt at culling and much more effective at reducing population and the
presence of diseased animals."

This seems so well-informed, humane and practical
that we can only hope that someone somewhere is listening to such advice.

December 20th 2010 ~ "You have to overcome EU legislation"

Professor Glyn Hewinson and his team at the VLA have been working on cattle
vaccine since 1998. Professor Hewinson in this
BBC audio clip from yesterday's "On Your Farm" talks about the difficulties
and says although developing a cattle vaccine is both lengthy and costly, breakthroughs
are being made in developing diagnostic DIVA tests to differentiate between
the disease and the vaccine - and if all goes to plan, a vaccine could be licensed
in the UK in 2012. "Then the long process of convincing the EU to lift a ban on
cattle vaccination for TB will begin in earnest."
Interestingly, the clip suggests that the experimental animals are well looked after
and free from stress.

December 15th 2010 ~ The first response to the cattle lick issue

We're grateful to John Tuck, the Wiltshire farmer, for this
email: extract: "Cattle licks with extra selenium and iodine could possibly
reduce the number of infected animals that go on to display clinical symptoms, but
the purpose of the testing regime is to remove infected animals before they develop
clinical symptoms." Other comments are very welcome.

We are reminded in a kind email today from a reader who has recently been in
touch with the director of the Carmarthen-based Trace Element Services Ltd, Danny
Goodwin-Jones, that nutrition is regarded by many as vital. Trace
Element Services Ltd was founded nearly thirty years ago:

"By trial and
error I discovered the vital importance of trace elements or micro nutrients to
our stock and was able to correct the problems we were having very quickly....About
10 years ago I began to realise that the increasing incidence of bTb was related
to a lack of natural immunity in cattle caused by the imbalance of trace elements..."
(See
Western Mail, 2 years ago)

Mr Goodwin-Jones developed techniques of treating
pastures with small amounts of missing elements. He pointed out that bTB spread
is not necessarily a result of activity by diseased badgers. He gave the example
of a farm isolated on one side by the Severn river and on the other a main road.
The farmer has 10 acres of maize. Badgers love maize and one can always tell when
they have been in it - but this farmer has never seen badgers. He has, however,
lost 55 cows out of his small herd over the last few years.
As for boosting immunity in badgers, we are told that one lady farmer makes up the
mineral supplements with large tubs of peanut butter. Badgers adore this.
As long ago as 2003 - 2004, the EFRA Committee report on bovine TB ( pdf
file 85 pages) took Col. Goodwin-Jones' work on trace element restoration seriously:
Extract and other links.
We would be most interested in receiving informed comment on this issue (email).

December 14th 2010 ~ The NFU has published its response to Defra's consultation
- and the public has replied in their thousands in support of the RSPCA's opposition
to culling badgers.

The NFU supports the Government's preferred policy, option 6, which involves
a combination of licensed badger culling and vaccination. "The union said the proposed
culling methods - shooting of free-ranging badgers combined with cage trapping and
shooting - will be 'the most efficient, humane and cost-effective methods of controlling
the badger population and will significantly reduce the transmission of disease
to cattle'." Read
Farmers Guardian report on the NFU submission.
A very different article in the Farmers Guardian (link
here) will be read with dismay by the ever increasing numbers of farmers and
alpaca owners who are faced with the despair and grief of the killing of reactors.
We read that the RSPCA "submitted nearly 40,000 messages from the public objecting
to Government plans to cull badgers in its response to the consultation on the subject"
- and as some comments beneath the article are already making plain, the disregard
of the RSPCA and so many members of the public for the lives of cows and calves,
and their apparent contempt for the livelihoods of farmers, is distressing. To many,
it would seem, "some animals are more equal than others".

December 14th 2010 ~ Bovine tuberculosis testing in Wales has revealed a high
incidence of reactors in an area thought to be relatively free of TB

Grim news from Farmers
Weekly. Under TB Health Check Wales every cattle herd in Wales has to undergo
an annual TB test and farmers have to have cattle tested before moving them off
farms.

"...Over a 15-month period, 11,761 herds, including 4000 in areas with
few recorded cases of bovine TB, were tested. The TB Health Check Wales testing
programme uncovered 103 new cases. More than half of these were in north Wales in
areas previously believed to be low risk. Reports published this week detailing
the results of this initiative conclude that it has created a better appreciation
of the geographical clustering of infection."

December 14th 2010 ~ "It is not the methods that are the problem, it is the
process that's the problem, and it's completely dysfunctional! That's not how to
stop the spread of T.B."

A farmer, Philip Allsop, sends warmwell.com his analysis of the bovine TB problem.
Its main contention is that if only cattle vaccination were available, suitable
and accepted, everyone would win. He has sent a precis
of the submission he sent to DEFRA as part of the consultation. The sentence
in his submission that particularly stands out as undeniable good sense is this:

"....we are being told that it is EU Legislation that prevents the use of vaccines
in cattle, and that authorisation from Europe is needed to change that. So it follows
then that if the authorisation is needed, it should be gained."

Until there
is an accepted market for TB vaccines for cattle it is highly unlikely that such
a vaccine will be developed and marketed. Meanwhile, the bitter arguments on both
sides of the debate continue - as does the spread of bTB.

December 8th 2010 ~ Last chance to send an email to DEFRA's TB consultation

December 7th 2010 ~ BGC vaccine isn't effective, alas.

DEFRA needs to be reminded that the vaccine that has been so hyped in the last
week is not going to eradicate TB in badgers and can only slightly reduce the massive
excretion of bacteria each infected badger can drop. Healthy badgers are a wonderful
sight - far less rare now than in the past because they have no predators. But they
are extremely susceptible to bovine TB and, when infected, get progressively more
and more ill and distressed. The bacterial load increases, and only with time does
the badger become sick with clinical signs. But long before it becomes sick it will
shed the bacteria - so it is not only visibly sick badgers that are infectious.
In infected badgers there may be huge amounts of bacteria in even microscopic lesions.Just 70 colony forming bTB bacteria are needed to infect a cow. A badger with
kidney lesions can excrete up to 300,000 cfu of bacteria in just 1ml of urine.
And just 70 bacteria from a drop of infected badger urine can provoke a positive
skin test reaction.
The killing of badgers - however humanely done - may seem distressing but not to
eradicate sick badgers means the disease will spread even further. The continuing
spread of TB doesn't only threaten cows and badgers but people and pets too. DEFRA
can be emailed with comments - and we are now into the last hours of the consultation.
It is not essential to respond to each of the 8 questions asked. General points
are taken into consideration.

December 6th 2010 ~ Save Our Livestock?

"The trauma of witnessing 23 cattle including six calves shot dead in a pen
on their farm due to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has forced a distressed Monmouthshire
couple to consider selling the rest of their herd and keep sheep instead. .. After
the first one was killed there was obviously a great deal of panic amongst the remaining
cattle. Some of the cows were very heavy in calf and, in fact, one of them had calved
the previous night...." www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk
The Badger Trust says "Save our Badgers" and that "English Badgers are under a Terrible
Threat". A justifiable and generally ignored cry from farmers is that our livestock
has been under threat and suffering traumatic death now for years. There is real
desperation and grief in the hotspots.
There is one day left to respond to the Consultation. Farmers Weekly quick
links are here. There is no requirement to respond to
each of the eight questions put forward in the consultation as general comments
will be taken into account. Can we hope for a humane, combined approach involving
some attempt to cure as well as kill?

"It's important
to realise that the 74% (73.8%) figure represents a reduction in incidence of positive
antibody tests brought about by vaccination and should not be equated to a vaccine
efficacy of 74% "

And they do say that in the paper. But it is a pity Defra
(or whoever wrote the press release) didn't realise that. Or the media or anyone
else similarly taken in or misled by the headlines which followed the press release...And
the media fest, headline grabbing, 800 badgers, 74 per cent reduction in TB? Which
most of Defra's 'lay readership' swallowed hook, line and sinker? Is that all right
too..... ? "

December 2nd 2010 ~ Although in the wild, tests show 74% success rate of badger
vaccination, EU Directive 78/52 still means there are no vaccine trials for cattle.

The BBC has
reported on work in Gloucestershire to test the safety of giving badgers BCG injections.
Every badger in some randomly chosen setts received a dose of BCG. In the other
social groups, none was vaccinated. More than 800 badgers were involved in the trial,
and then all were tested for TB infection each year, to see how the incidence of
disease might differ between vaccinated and non-vaccinated animals. The results
were much better than in lab-based experiments. This could be because "the animals
are probably exposed to a lower level of disease".

"We're really excited about
the results, because we didn't design the trial to look at changes in the incidence
but to look at the safety of giving animals BCG," said Robbie McDonald, head of
the Wildlife and Emerging Diseases team at the Food and Environment Research Agency
(Fera).
"All of the safety aspects are fine, and that's why we now have this licensed vaccine
- but the exciting thing was we had this strong effect of the vaccine on incidence,
a 74% reduction," he told BBC News."

The article reports that "scientists are
also working to develop an oral version of the vaccine, which entails giving the
active ingredients a protective coating so they are not broken down by stomach acids."
The snag, of course, is that - as the BBC puts it - a trial of the vaccine in cattle

"could take years to conduct and cost millions of pounds; nothing as comprehensive
is being planned."

What the BBC does NOT make clear is that the sticking point
in getting cattle vaccinated against bTB is that Article 13 of Directive 78/52 requires
member states to ensure "anti- tuberculosis vaccination" is prohibited under their
eradication plans. Madness.

December 2nd 2010 ~ "Why have so few farming folk bothered to give their views
to the DEFRA consultation?"

"With just a few days remaining before the consultation ends, now is a time
for urgent action not apathy.... . Vaccination and improved bio-security will be
necessary to tackle this disease. But licences to cull infected badgers humanely
and safely will be essential too if we are to stop the reservoir of infection in
wildlife.
.... Even arable growers should be motivated to air their views as they too will
be directly affected if the livestock sector continues to decline." Read
in full - including questions and answers.

You can email direct to Defra
at tbbc@defra.gsi.gov.uk or post a letter
to TBBC Mailbox, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR (or fax 020 7238 6431.)
There a standard response template which can be found on the NFU
website.

November 22nd 2010 ~ The important and humane film, "The Way Forward", can be
watched freely online again

We gratefully acknowledge the skill and generosity of those who have made this
possible. You can watch the film here.
More about the film, its humane approach, and how to obtain the full sized, best
quality version, click
here.

"...We do not advocate this policy lightly but this has to be the
way forward if we want to make a real impact in reducing the levels of TB in cattle.....we
are supporting the government proposal on a badger control policy because the latest
science supports that. We know that there is no single solution to bovine TB, that
we will need to continue with tight cattle control and that, as in industry, we
have to play our role in eradicating bovine TB. But we also know that, if we don't
tackle the disease in badgers, we won't make any progress."

Hard not to agree
with the NFU President that it was unfortunate that George Monbiot in his recent
article (15th November) "carefully selected the research he has used".
One continues, in this horrible and still escalating situation, to be baffled at
the way the lives of prized cattle are seen by many to be so much more expendable
than those of badgers . Badgers, once infected, are very unfortunately tragically
efficient spreaders of the disease to farms and to each other and although, at long
last, strides are being made in the field of TB vaccines, they are simply not good
enough yet to stop the disease in its tracks. ( What irony it is that the bTB situation
should be the mirror image of foot and mouth. For FMD, vaccines are excellent and
can stop the disease in its tracks - but the preemptive use of FMD vaccines is dismissed
in the EU on purely political and economic grounds. If FMD vaccines are used early
enough, contiguous killing should be unnecessary.)

November 15th 2010 ~ " Vaccination is included in Option 6 to cover individuals
who do not wish to allow a cull on their land but are prepared to pay a trained
and licensed operator to vaccinate instead"

The Consultation
ends in only three weeks time on December 8th. As Bill Harper, Chairman of the NBA
bTB Committee urges,

"It is essential that as many as possible support Option
6, because TB will otherwise become endemic across the UK, creating new infection
in free range pigs, sheep, goats, cats, dogs and people as well as cattle and many
more badgers."

The problem is not going to go away and action has been delayed
for years because it is seen as such a political hot potato. Without urgent action
now, however, the disease will spread even further - and many sensible people
seem to agree that Option 6 would be the best way forward.

November 11th 2010 ~ New support recommended by TBEG last year is announced
by Jim Paice today.

One of the recommendations made by the Bovine TB Eradication Group for England
in their 2009
Progress Report (pdf) was that TB affected farmers needed more effective and
better focused support and advice. According to the Progress Report (see extract)
this was

"given a high priority, the intention being to roll-out the new advice
package in early 2010." (more)

Jim Paice announced
today that all TB affected cattle farmers can now access free support from the Farm
Crisis Network (FCN) on the financial and business implications of an outbreak,
and that trained volunteers would provide confidential advice and information on
where to go for more specialised help and support.
For the worst-hit farmers, FCN's new Business Support Group will work directly with
farmers to provide tailored advice through the length of their outbreak.
More on the Bovine TB Eradication Group for England, including Meeting highlight
notes can be accessed from DEFRA's
updated webpage

November 8th 2010 ~ "...we hope that people will be able to see for themselves
the detailed research that went into the development of the vaccine and understand
the opportunities and challenges of using vaccination."

Research reports related to the control of bovine tuberculosis in badgers have
been made public today and when Professor Glyn Hewinson, Head of the TB Research
Group at the VLA, and Professor Robbie McDonald, Head of the Wildlife and Emerging
Diseases Programme at Fera speak of both "opportunities and challenges" they mean
that vaccination against bTB for badgers is by no means the silver bullet that we
should like it to be.
All the same, in field trials "vaccination resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in
the proportion of wild badgers testing positive to the antibody blood test for TB
in badgers."

"... A key finding of the field study, conducted over four years
in a naturally infected population of more than 800 wild badgers in Gloucestershire,
was that vaccination resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in the proportion of wild
badgers testing positive to the antibody blood test for TB in badgers.
The blood test is not an absolute indicator of protection from disease, so the field
results cannot tell us the degree of vaccine efficacy. While the findings indicate
a clear effect of vaccination on badger disease, data from the laboratory and field
studies do not lend themselves to giving a definitive figure for BadgerBCG vaccine
efficacy. Nor do they provide information on the effect of badger vaccination in
reducing TB incidence in cattle.
A scientific paper summarising the results of the injectable BCG badger vaccine
research has been accepted for publication by the scientific journal Proceedings
of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) and will be published shortly..."

Read
in full Defra is also publishing today (See below) the results of new computer
modelling by Fera which suggests that badger vaccination could make a positive contribution
to disease control in its own right and was "consistently positive when used in
combination with culling in a ring vaccination strategy" (i.e. culling in the core
area, and vaccination in the adjacent ring area.)

November 8th 2010 ~ Auctioneers Kivells have announced they will be holding
the UK's first auction of TB-restricted store cattle and dairy stock at Holsworthy
Market on Monday, November 22.

See www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk
".... Up until now all cattle from farms where any animals have registered positive
to TB tests have been subject to a 60-day movement restriction, which has caused
havoc to trade on thousands of agricultural holdings. Farmers have been unable to
take cattle to market which were ready to be traded, until the whole herd tested
negative for TB - putting on crippling financial burdens, and running down fodder
stocks during winter months...."

November 7th 2010 ~ "From the start I was determined to steer clear of the politics
and produce a film with a firm educational base..."

"The Way Forward" as a free streamed DVD has now been withdrawn from the Mole
Valley website. As we wrote in July, "a recent
letter to
the sponsors of "Bovine TB - A Way Forward" expressed a certain disappointment at
the way the DVD seemed not to have come to the attention of people who could well
have been moved and impressed by it. Chris Chapman added, "I have said it a thousand
times and I will say it again:

The reason for making our film was to educate
the public on the tragedy of this disease and to try to bridge the gap between the
farming industry, wildlife groups and a largely ill-informed public....the simple
fact is that Bryan Hill's strategy works and there are many out there who will give
testimony to this... "

The 25 minute film can be purchased for £4.99,
which includes postage and packing. It is available through Chris Chapman's website
at www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk.
The squeamish need feel no reluctance to watch it. We found it to dwell - not on
recrimination or sadness - but on positive steps that can be taken. And it is beautifully
filmed and edited. We feel that the notion that such a film is "political" is laughable.
The suggestion that it

does seem politically motivated and one is somewhat at a loss to fathom the motives
of those who want it withdrawn. Chris Chapman says, "From the start I was determined
to steer clear of the politics and produce a film with a firm educational base.
People love wildlife and I wanted to show how the disease has got out of control
and yet is not being addressed. I personally don't agree with a blanket cull as
has been suggested by the Welsh Assembly. This film makes a strong point for healthy
cattle and healthy badgers by a different, and to my mind, far more acceptable route."

November 4th 2010 ~ "...vaccination for cattle will be available in 2012 (with
the DIVA test). " DEFRA

Sally Hall at www.bovinetb.co.uk writes,
".... ....the stumbling block is now the EU procedures, which, we are told, will
not be completed until 2015! This is not good enough and derogation should be sought
NOW " See full posting on www.bovinetb.co.uk

October 27th 2010 ~ "The new Culling Strategy of Jim Paice is as wrong as is
his enormous actual consultation," writes vet, Ueli Zellweger

The Swiss vet, Dr Zellweger's view is:

Consultation
It does not help to ask some hundred Associations or other bodies for their opinion
- it just distracts from the main issue.
The main issue is a veterinary problem of biggest scale. It is an epidemic disease
which is out of control.
Best thing Jim Paice could do is call in 2 or 3 of the worldwide veterinary professors
( epidemiologists ) with highest reputation; to present them with the actual facts
and to listen with what they come up with after 2 days …. and then to act
accordingly. Actual Culling Strategy
As it is drafted ( 150km2 areas) it will fail. Catching/trapping and shooting does
not work efficiently enough. It is fact that one never succeeds to shoot more than
60% of all badgers in such an area. Apart of it being quite time consuming and expensive
it is a frustrating job. After shooting half of all badgers of a sett the surviving
badgers will start to stray ( risk of perturbation? ) or will get elusive. What should happen:
Shooting one or two badgers at each sett and investigate if they had bTB. If positive
the very sett has to be closed down and kept tight for 18 months or better 2 years
(checking every 3 months if reopened). There is no alternative."

October 25th 2010 ~ Chris Chapman's moving and informative short film, The
Way Forward, can now be watched online.

October 25th 2010 ~ Welsh Assembly Government issues a fact sheet about bovine
TB to every household in its Intensive Action Area

Elin Jones has been to see what she calls the " immense human cost to bovine
TB". The Farmers
Guardian reports on the Welsh Minister's visit to Nick and Nadia Gwynnes' prize
winning Chestermann herd of pedigree Simmental cows in which - and for the first
time in 31 years of farming - a reactor was found. Now, the farm is under TB restrictions
and Nadia says, "...We now have to keep and feed the cattle over the winter and
because we are organic this could cost us £15,000. As a consequence we are
reluctantly thinking of getting out of being organic." and adds that she can not
believe the impact the breakdown has had on the family both personally as well as
financially.

October 20th 2010 ~ bTB. "the voices of the people who live day in, day out,
with the heartache and suffering this disease causes..."

NFU Cymru Deputy President Stephen James is quoted at www.farminguk.com
explaining the often misunderstood and unfortunate truth that bTB vaccination in
its present form can be used only to prevent and not cure bTB disease:

"Farmers,
more than anyone, would dearly wish for a vaccine to be available that could be
used as part of a range of measures to help rid this disease from our countryside.
However, the facts are that we remain a number of years away from being in a position
where vaccination can genuinely be considered as part of a TB eradication strategy
for Wales. We have an opportunity now to use proven methods to begin the road to
TB eradication. This is why NFU Cymru backs the proposals put forward last month
by the Assembly Government to implement a badger control strategy alongside cattle
control measures in an Intensive Action Area of west Wales.
It is vitally important that the industry shows its support for the Assembly Government's
recently announced proposals. As individuals directly affected by this disease each
one of us has a responsibility to spend a few minutes to write, e-mail or respond
on-line to the new consultation
to ensure that the voices of the people who live day in, day out, with the heartache
and suffering this disease causes are heard loud and clear."

October 12th 2010 ~ to gain a licence to cull, applicants will have to demonstrate
that within the area of at least 150 km(2 )there is access for culling to over 70%
of the area.

Latest from Hansard on
licences, costs, policing and vaccination. Extract: "Planned expenditure on bovine
tuberculosis vaccines during the current financial year (20010-11) is £6.7
million. This includes vaccines research and the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project.
No decisions on future spend will be made until the results of the spending review
are known."

October 9th 2010 ~ New Website bTB in Alpacas and llamas (Camelids)

Dianne Summers, Dr Gina Bromage, and recently resigned B.A.S. Chair Mike Birch,
have developed a new website dedicated to the subject of bTB in Camelids. The purpose
of the new www.alpacatb.org
website is to help affected camelid herds and also to educate camelid owners about
the serious issue of bTB - with the hope it will reduce the risk of it happening
to them. Please see attached information

Oct 8th 2010 ~ "I don't believe that farmers or animal lovers in Britain need
to be adversaries over badgers - it is the disease that is the problem and we all
share an interest in a real solution."

Saddened by the negative tone of the recent DEFRA report
of its meeting "Bovine TB and the use of PCR" in July, we wrote to Dr Roger Breeze
for comment. His letter, typical of his vision and humanity, can be read
in full here. Extract: " I would like to believe that 160 years from now those
same farm and badger families would be living together in Herefordshire, walking
the same fields that are forever England."
Let's make this vision possible by joining forces across the adversarial divide.
As Roger says:

"I am no expert on bovine TB and badgers. But I think I have
learned something from spending half my life in science in the UK and half in the
US....Let's legislate in 2010, irrevocably, that no more badgers will be killed
after December 31, 2015. That gives us 5 years to develop and validate alternatives.
What are those alternatives? I don't know. But I do know that they exist and that
unless we search for them seriously and with a sense of urgency they will not be
uncovered. One way to start that process would be for the RSPCA and those interested
in badgers to commission the Royal Society to develop a scientific strategic research
plan based on the premise that killing is no longer acceptable. ...."

Oct 7th 2010 ~"..The combined knowledge of the staff involved in all of the
previous culling strategies has never been utilised or sought when putting together
a policy..."

The EFRA Select Committee, in compiling its 2006 6th
Report, sought evidence from all sides in the debate about proposals for introducing
badger culling as a bTB control measure. One
Memorandum submitted was from Paul Caruana who had worked for the Defra Wildlife
Unit. He wrote:

"I feel that I have enough anecdotal evidence, gathered over
my 12 years, to have a good feel for what should have happened in the war against
TB. Unfortunately, and as I know only too well, this type of evidence isn't usually
acceptable, but here it comes anyway...."

What followed were 12 points that
showed not only that "You do not need large scale culling for it to be effective
if the culling effort is robust from the start" but also how and why the Krebs trials
had been so flawed.
The written evidence of another veterinary surgeon, D
J B Denny, pulled no punches either and, with its expert knowledge, concerns
and humanity, is wholly relevant to the policies now the subject of the DEFRA
Consultation.

Oct 5th 2010 ~ DEFRA: PCR "not a test that could be usefully used for detecting
TB in badgers based on the current state of knowledge, particularly in the field."

The pdf file "Bovine TB and the use of PCR"
is a report from July. Professor Bob Watson was the Chairman.
It is disappointing that the summary contained so many tentative statements and
words of caution

"If the further research...was pursued, PCR might have some
use for testing badgers for TB in the future.... current uncertainties may not be
resolved and a practical (or low cost) test regime developed.
If the uncertainties surrounding sample extraction and handling could be resolved,
and an integrated assay procedure validated, an automated portable test might be
feasible in the longer-term..... would depend on the outcome of an appropriate experimental
programme and the resources applied..."

It seems very unfortunate that "resources"
were not "applied" when the UK economy was booming.
See pdf of DEFRA's report in
full. It refers also to the trials done at Warwick in 2006 after which their press
release must have raised the hopes of many four years ago.

Oct 5th 2010 ~ "....farmers may have missed the mention of the £1.6 million
they are expected to stump up for each 150 sq km, controlled under Defra's favoured
Option 6."

(See Consultation
document. (pdf) Option 6 enables groups of farmers or landowners "to apply for
a licence to tackle TB in badgers through culling, vaccination, or a combined strategy
of culling and vaccination. For those undertaking culling either on its own or in
combination with vaccination, the full criteria for culling as proposed in section
4 of this consultation document would always need to be met...143. The
farming industry/landowners will cover the direct costs of culling and/or vaccination.
Government will put in place arrangements to issue licences in response to applications
meeting the criteria, and will take responsibility for monitoring the effectiveness,
humaneness and impact of badger control measures.." )
The BovineTB
Blog's most recent post reminds readers that

"..having explained in the
Final Report of the ISG that culling badgers 'in the way it was done in the RBCT'
was expensive and inefficient, a very similar scenario is proposed for a farmer
controlled cull. Only this time, it will be the owners of cattle, alpacas, sheep,
goats and outdoor pigs, who pick up the tab and not the taxpayer."

adding that
Caroline Spelman is the only Minister in the world, "( of whom we are aware ), to
throw control of the zoonotic disease known as 'bovine' Tuberculosis back to farmers,
with her department and her employees taking no active part whatsoever, other than
monitoring cattle breakdowns."

"...we think it is important that everyone directly
involved with this: cattle farmers, owners of other herd or flock mammals, owners
of dogs and cats, many of which have succumbed to 'badger' TB, veterinarians and
supporters of healthy British wildlife reply to this consultation paper in a sensible
and coherent manner."

Oct 1 2010 ~ Peter Kendall says, " a massive thank-you must go to Jim Paice
for the real leadership he has shown when dealing with this truly difficult and
divisive issue. And what a divisive issue."

"When you see normally balanced journalists from the national
press disregarding all of the facts and focussing on their own version of the truth
about bovine TB, then you know that you've got a fight on your hands.
But don't forget that a consultation is exactly that - a consultation. It's government
asking a list of stakeholders what they think of its proposals. That list is long
and growing as any number of groups and individuals - including pop stars and respected
naturalists who may or may not have read the consultation - come forward with a
'no' to fill the minister's postbag.
...we must make sure our voice is heard and that doesn't just mean the NFU, it means
individual farmers must write to the minister as well. Not only will we need to
demonstrate solidarity in the coming months, but also patience. Even if we see the
ministerial decision go the right way, it could be judicially reviewed ..."

1st October 2010 ~ Camelids: Gamma Validation Project Goes Ahead.

"Contracts
have been signed and the Camelid Gamma Validation Project commences. It is envisaged
it will be completed by mid 2011
The project not only aims to validate the Camelid Gamma Interferon but ALSO the
Chembio Rapid Stat Pak Test.
Both tests have ALREADY been used and trialed on a large number of members of the
TB Support Group and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude...
We also need to give a huge thank you to the Alpaca owners from TB Free areas who
have offered up 300+ ALPACAS for the trial. ......"

October 1st 2010 ~ "We accept that there is no point addressing cattle-to-cattle
transmission without also addressing the wildlife reservoir of Bovine TB...." National
Trust

The Farmers
Guardian has an article today on the National Trust's cautious statement:

"
If the criteria for a successful cull can be met - and it is legal and carried out
to the highest possible welfare standards as part of a package of measures that
includes more rigorous approaches to reduce cattle-to-cattle transmission - then
we would not object to culls taking place in areas that include our land, where
it can be shown all other routes have been explored.
We accept that there is no point addressing cattle-to-cattle transmission without
also addressing the wildlife reservoir of Bovine TB. We feel strongly that this
should be done as part of a comprehensive package of measures."

September 27th/28th 2010 ~ "The fallout from the Foot and Mouth epidemic rumbles
on in the form of increased levels of TB in both badgers and cattle."

Farmer Phil's Podcast
0235 "Two wrongs need a right" was first netcast on Monday. It is excellent
in explaining, calmly and humanely, the problems caused by the huge increase in
the disease - and by the dire and unhelpful explosion in the badger population since
the mid 90s when badgers became "protected". Phil's wife, Heather, asks the questions.
These are the questions that many wildlife lovers and those unfamiliar with the
way farmers are affected by government policies might want to have answered. What
emerges clearly is how the situation has got so much worse since the disruption
caused by foot and mouth policy in 2001 - and Phil explains very clearly what has
been happening in the past difficult decade, what the present government's policy
now is and what it involves. Farmer Phil and his family - like so many others -
want to see healthy badgers and healthy cattle, and think the present suggested
policy is the best we can hope for in such a grim situation. It is easy to
listen to the podcast in full. This is a real farming family speaking without
rancour, evidently hoping that the gulf between the two sides in this issue can
be bridged by understanding. (The slip over which year saw the 2001 FMD crisis doesn't
detract in any way from the good sense of the talk.)

September 21st 2010 ~ BVA and BCVA joint news release

The news release quotes Professor Bill Reilly, President of the BVA,:

"The
BVA supports the Welsh Assembly Government's commitment to tackling bovine TB and
we welcome the consultation on a new Order.
It is important to remember that the Court of Appeal did not rule against the science
of the original Order, but the process by which the decision was reached."

Keith
Cutler, President of BCVA says:

"Unlike the earlier Order that was rejected
by the Court of Appeal, the draft TB Eradication Order announced today by the Welsh
Assembly Government will focus on an Intensive Action Area where bovine TB levels
are extremely high.
BCVA is highly supportive of the WAG's new proposals as they will introduce
a badger control strategy alongside stricter cattle control and biosecurity measures."

September 18th 2010 ~ Oddly unhelpful behaviour from B.A.S

Like many others who are deeply concerned at the way bTB is racing through alpacas
in a form so highly infectious that swift onward spread to others and to other mammals
is inevitable, we were saddened to hear that the British Alpaca Society has refused
to cooperate with a research student from Nottingham university. This is what the
Bovine
TB Blogspot has to say:

"..... In July, she asked the B.A.S. if they would
kindly email her short survey to all their members, or put a contact within the
magazine which is circulated to members.
She offered B.A S. the results of the survey.
After some considerable delay, the B.A.S. declined her offer, politely offering
their "regret" that they were "not able to circulate this for you." The full letter,
with the views of some alpaca owners, and BAS members can be viewed here....

As Matthew says, the BAS reply could be summarised as follows:

"No. We
do not want to know about bTB in alpacas. We are trying to run a business here."

In contrast, Dianne Summers says, "The camelid TB Support Group welcome the
findings of your study. I am disappointed the B.A.S didn't do the same."
The veterinary student's letter and survey is also
on warmwell.com here. (new window)

September 17th 2010 ~ "... he was condemned to a painful death I would not allow
any of my farmed animals to endure."

"....I wish I had
been able to shoot the diseased, maggot- infested old badger that was shuffling
painfully about here a couple of years ago but had I done so, I could have been
prosecuted. So he was condemned to a painful death I would not allow any of my farmed
animals to endure.
Now we all know that not all farmers are scrupulous or fussy about what they shoot
but I know for a fact that most are. Most will not want to touch their badgers.
My cattle farmer neighbour this morning said just this.

This is a common view. Farmers
KNOW that if they have badgers and yet are TB free the chances are that the badgers
living alongside their cattle are also TB free.
I think its important to realise before the "Let's all hate the badger killing farmers"
lobby gets going, that MOST farmers will not want to or need to get involved and
that for the small minority who have the biggest problems and obvious disease on
their farms, it will be a last resort."

..The
situation is steadily getting worse ... we are under increasing pressure from the
European Commission to strengthen our controls. ...it is clear that the approach
to date has failed.
There is no single solution to tackling bovine TB.. Cattle measures will remain
the foundation of our bovine TB control programme but we will not succeed in eliminating
the disease in cattle unless we also tackle the disease in badgers. The science
is clear, there is no doubt that badgers are a reservoir of the disease and transmit
bovine TB to cattle. No other country in the world with a similar reservoir in wildlife
has eradicated TB from cattle without stringent wildlife control measures.... The
Government's proposal will empower farmers to take control of reducing the risks
of transmission from the wildlife reservoir at the local level...Licences would
be subject to strict criteria...
...my assessment is that vaccination will not be as effective .. Vaccination does
not guarantee that all badgers are fully protected from infection and it would take
some time to develop immunity within a local population.... "

September 15th 2010 ~ Both sides in this polarised debate deplore the possible
destruction of healthy animals - but doing nothing is no longer an option.

This morning, the Farmers
Guardian reminds us that Jim Paice is about to launch "a three-month consultation
to seek views on proposed methods of culling badgers and the criteria that will
be attached to badger cull licences". One might be forgiven for thinking that the
government has had enough opportunities to talk to enough experts by now to know
how to proceed - and forgiven also for suspecting that consultations are rarely
more than governmental back-covering exercises.
However, a joint press release from the BVA and BCVA says (extract)

"The veterinary
profession has warmly welcomed the launch of the Defra consultation on tackling
bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in England, which includes recommendations for badger
control in areas where bTB persists at high levels, despite attempts at control
using other measures...."

Read press release
in full. The
CLA says today: "This is not all-out war on badgers. The need for a farmer to
obtain a licence will ensure that any action taken against wildlife will be necessary
and appropriate..." The licence will also allow for badgers to be vaccinated in
the designated area. Gassing and snaring have both been ruled out as options by
Defra on animal welfare grounds. (See also latest from the
FG Most comments so far seem reasonable and encouraging.)
The RSPCA, we note, have today issued a press
release: "Say 'no' to new plans for a badger cull in England"

September 15th 200 ~ And yet another consultation begins...

"A
government report has suggested that a five year study should be carried out to
determine once and for all whether badgers are responsible and whether culling would
be an effective strategy for dealing with the disease...."

It reminds one of
the consequences of the UK's hesitation in getting to grips with such a serious
disease - and one that is increasing globally.
The years when money could have supported the development of viable vaccines passed
without result - mainly, perhaps, because of the stance taken by the EU. Article
13 of Directive 78/52 requires member states to ensure "anti- tuberculosis vaccination"
is prohibited under their eradication plans. This must have made research and development
of viable badger and cattle vaccines for use in the EU seem a waste of time, effort
and money.
Bovine TB is a particularly difficult bacterium to diagnose and combat - as was
explained here by Dr Ruth Watkins,
whose own championing of the wildlife on her farm cannot be doubted.

September 13th 2010 ~ The Welsh chief veterinary officer has written to the
chairman of the Badger Trust

According to
vetsonline.com Christianne Glossop has written to express her concerns at the
way the campaign group is using national TB statistics in its campaigning. She included
charts of the number of animals slaughtered and the number of confirmed new incidents
each quarter for Wales and the whole of Britain from 2007 to 2010 extracted from
the national statistics, claiming the charts reinforce the danger of trying to identify
short term trends and turning points in the presence of such huge variation. The
main picture is a highly variable series with large variations around any underlying
trend. The main messages are:

The levels of TB remain unacceptably high;

The number of animals slaughtered in quarter 4 2008 and quarter 1 2009 seem
high compared to the rest of the series, particularly in Wales;

Results for later 2009 and 2010 are broadly in line with similar periods in
2007 and 2008.

September 10th 2010 ~ Ireland. " further substantial reduction will be difficult
until badger vaccination programme is implemented."

SCOFCAH's presentation, published on September 7th,presentation includes comment
about Ireland's "targeted badger removal under licence where implicated in a breakdown"
See ec.europa.eu
for the 2009 Eradication Programme for Bovine Tuberculosis (Ireland) by SCOFCAH
(Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health) pdf presentation, 17 pages.
Extract:

Implementation of programme is showing good results:-

number of reactors down from 29,900 in 2008 to 23,800 in 2009 i.e. 20% reduction

Herd incidence down from:5.9% in 2008 to 5.1% in 2009

Lower incidence of disease is continuing into 2010

Badger removal programme appears to be paying dividends.

Considered view is that further substantial reduction will be difficult until
badger vaccination programme is implemented.

Continue to implement programme on similar lines including controlled badger
removal

Research into Badger vaccination is on-going (in collaboration with UK) but
definitive conclusions will not be available until 2013 at the earliest. See presentation
in full (pdf)

September 10th 2010 ~ "she was operating solo, no mobile phone back up, and
not supported by a fleet of police cars and officials in white coats" - An emailer
responds to the Chirk Farm story below:

"...my mother as a relatively young vet in the mid 1960s worked for the
Ministry doing TB testing in Lincolnshire, and was used to getting an initial frosty
response from farmers - not only because they did not want their animals tested
as they feared they would be killed, but also because they had been sent a woman
vet...On one such occasion the farmer met my mother brandishing a gun, to see her
off the property. She however succeeded in calming him down and agreeing to having
his animals tested (she was operating solo, no mobile phone back up, and not supported
by a fleet of police cars and officials in white coats). She had sheer guts, determination,
but above all common sense and a real and genuine understanding of human nature
and of farming. She was a country person with an inbuilt intuition and sensitivity
that so many officials in our urban dominated society completely lack."

September 9th 2010 ~ "We have a zero tolerance approach to farmers who don't
comply with the law .."

The Wrexham
Leader reports on an ugly incident today that happened at a farm in Chirk. The
farmer evidently did not want to comply with the regulation that cows must be TB
tested once a year.
A warrant was obtained "to enforce the overdue tests".
In the course of the visit three cows were shot. A neighbour is quoted:

" It
was a big operation with police and other official looking people taking part. There
were two to three quad bikes and several Land Rovers around."

The whole story
is not known - but such a scene cannot help but recall upsetting incidents, still
fresh in the memory, when "officials", backed up with police and others, have shown
"zero tolerance" when enforcing policy. The reason given for the shooting of the
cows, according to the article, is that they "started behaving dangerously" - something
cows will only normally do if spooked by incompetent handling.

September 9th 2010 ~ Another case of bovine TB in South of France

A third farm in South West France has been found to have bTB (see
below). All 500 animals on the farm are to be killed. A total of 110 cows have
already been killed on the other 2 farms. Around 30 farms in the French department
of Ariège are now under quarantine. See Vetsweb.

"As I have said many times before, no country
has eliminated TB without addressing the wildlife reservoir. New Zealand is fortunate
in as much as its reservoir in wildlife was in the possum - which is not everybody's
favourite animal in New Zealand - and therefore controlling them was a lot simpler
politically to deal with the problem than it is for us to deal with it in badgers."

The very popularity of the badger has meant that the problem of the wildlife
reservoir has not been solved. It remains a political hot potato - not because the
vociferous minority cares about so many thousands of cattle being summarily killed
on dubious evidence - but because the formerly shy and delightful badger holds such
a place in English hearts. Without viable bTB vaccines it is necessary to kill infected
badgers if we are to stop the spread of disease - but what upsets those who hate
the idea of trapping and killing badgers is that some healthy badgers are inevitably
going to be put down along with the sick ones.
What a tragedy that there has been no money available to ensure that there is a
wholly reliable test for setts and no oral vaccine to protect wildlife. Since there
is not, who can blame livestock farmers for their own desperation and desire to
protect their animals? 14, 000 cattle have already been killed this year as a result
of bTB. Farmers are going to be mightily relieved and grateful for Mr Paice's courageous
political stance.

September 6th 2010 ~ " it is the right thing to do. We cannot go on not taking
action to deal with this huge problem.."

The
Telegraph quotes a "senior source" at DEFRA following Caroline Spelman's approval
for plans for a cull in the areas worst affected by bTB. If farmers can prove that
a cull is necessary on their land and the surrounding area they are going to be
allowed to kill and vaccinate badgers themselves. "... the Coalition has responded
to pressure from farmers' groups and some scientists who insist that culling is
the most effective method of dealing with the epidemic." No one yet seems to know
much beyond the basic determination that farmers should be given powers to act.
DEFRA is "currently developing proposals for public consultation in the coming weeks".
Read
article

September 2nd 2010 ~ Other Species "...new tables have an even fuller explanation
of just what Defra are not counting..."

Another devastating posting from the
BovineTB Blogspot. DEFRA's office personnel may be pitied for having to battle
with printed figures and muddled sources - but these "fuller explanations" are a
way both of smudging accuracy and covering DEFRA's back for the lack of accuracy
- and neither helps when so much is at stake for people on the ground.
Extract from the
post (which needs to be read in full):

"..when one looks for figures of
'other species' TB casualties on Defra's website, it is probably more informative
to read the notes and see what isn't being counted, especially those detailed in
Note 2.

Note 2: Cultures and post mortem examination may not be carried out
at the VLA on every animal removed from a herd once TB has been confirmed. Therefore
not all animals removed for TB disease control purposes will be reported above.
i.e., where multiple skin or blood test reactors are identified in an infected herd
undergoing TB testing.

Skin and blood test failures? Not counted. Deaths where
no cultures have been collected, but gross pathology has indicated TB? Not counted.
These animals are dead...."

1st September 2010 ~ Many will be watching and waiting to see the outcome of
the "Hallmark Boxster" case

The Champion British Blonde bull, Hallmark Boxster, won his category in every
show he entered last year. His value can undoubtedly be calculated in five figures
- but DEFRA wants him slaughtered after the gamma interferon test gave a "marginal
indication" that he was a TB carrier.
His owner, Ken Jackson, is not the first to have challenged such a diagnosis, nor
the first to be refused when he asked to pay privately for a retest .
After several months of stand-off, DEFRA has now been told by the High Court judge
in the case, Mr Justice Collins, that the prize bull should be given another chance
and vets should indeed re-run the test.
It will be of interest to many to see if DEFRA is prepared to run the risk of a
re-test's suggesting that the original diagnosis was wrong. Although the gamma interferon
test is the best we have in the armoury at present it is not infallible and more
effective alternatives could be available - given political will. (The commercially
available form of the assay, Enzyme Linked ImmunoSpot (ELISPOT) T-SPOT®
TB (Oxford Immunotec, Abingdon, UK), now has European regulatory approval for
use on humans.) The Welsh government claimed, perhaps rather unwisely, in May 2007
during the Shambo case, that the Defra tests were "99.9 per cent accurate". In the
same month we were informed by an eminent microbiologist
that a positive skin reaction to bTB is "not more than an indicator for the animal
having met the infection and raised antibodies and a white cell memory." (read
in full)

30th August 2010 ~ bTB on a farm in South West France

83 animals on a farm in Ariège have been culled and 12 other farms in
the area are under supervision. One of the animals during a routine inspection at
the abattoir appeared to have vesicles but it took several weeks before the authorities
could definitively say it was bovine TB. All affected farmers have been offered
"all possible help and assistance". More
detail

August 28th 2010 ~ Bovine TB is back in the Netherlands

Thanks to the real-time news magic of Twitter, we learn with sadness that TB
was found after routine testing of a butchered cow in Friesland - and that 20% of
the other cows at the farm tested positive. These were culled. The remainder will
be isolated for 2 to 4 months and tested regularly.
The Netherlands has been mercifully free of the disease - but in 2008, an isolated
outbreak was traced back to the import of calves from the UK. Siem-Jan Schenck,
chairman of the department of cattle with the Dutch Agricultural Board, said that
no more British calves should be imported into the Netherlands. However, even though
the EC tabled a proposal to SCOFCAH which would have made the export of calves from
Britain virtually impossible, the committee rejected the idea. An official said
at the time (July 2008): "The EU Commission is still keeping our TB control programme
under scrutiny. A number of Food and Veterinary Office reports have identified perceived
shortcomings - for example in the frequency of testing and the use of parishes as
control areas. They may come back on this in future." See
below. Animals on 48 other farms which delivered animals to or bought animals
from the TB positive farm are being tested. The link is herewww.agd.nl
(Dutch)

August 27th 2010 ~ "apart from a change of heads in Westminister and great deal
more anguish .... absolutely nothing has changed..."

The always excellent Bovine
TB Blogspot has taken a closer look at the inaccuracy of Defra's statistics
with regard to numbers of "other species" which have succumbed to tuberculosis.
Matthew examines "fudges" in the guidelines for notifications, and has been "..
assured by vets and AHO staff further down the ladder that they are reporting positive
post mortems to the local VI centre, who in turn confirm their reports to Defra,
London. But there the logs appear to jam. Although the lift goes to the top floor,
the figures appear not to be passed to the people in FFG who collate those statistics."
Read
in full

The "official" DEFRA figures for alpaca herds under Tb movement restriction
are wildly inaccurate at 35. As the posting
below makes clear:

".... a minimum of 49 herds have been affected. Sadly
as one of my group come out of restriction another comes on. Those in touch with
the TB Support group have suffered 155 losses between 1st Jan 2010 and 1st August
2010 so our small group has already exceeded the number of losses for last year.....
Herds have been affected not only by direct local wildlife but by way of purchase
or agisted mating and sadly lots of alpacas on long term agistment have fallen to
TB...." read in full

The
Farmers Guardian today reports on Dianne Summers' alarm (see below) that some
commercial herds are passing on the disease to unwitting clients and failing to
give their full movement records to Animal Health - which means AH cannot contact
them to offer testing.
Farmers Guardian reports on Dianne Summers' campaign for TB controls on camelids
in England to be put on the same footing as those for cattle. She stresses that
a more accurate test for alpacas is required. Farmers
Guardian:

"DEFRA is facing calls to tighten up bovine TB (bTB) controls
for non-bovine species in England, amid signs the disease is spreading far more
rapidly in some species than official figures indicate. ...Once TB has been confirmed
in herds of non-bovine species, subsequent animals that test positive to the skin
or blood tests 'may not be examined', Defra says. "Therefore not all animals removed
for TB disease control purposes will be reported," a note accompanying the statistics
admits. This was confirmed by an irate owner of a heavily infected alpaca herd,
from Devon, who told Farmers Guardian he had recently reported a dead animal to
Animal Health to be told he would have to organise and pay for any post mortem,
himself."

Once again we seem to be witnessing DEFRA's inability to understand
that farmers will not cooperate willingly in disease control measures if doing so
means they are both inconvenienced and out of pocket.

August 20th 2010 ~ Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones has launched a consultation
on a draft legislative order to control TB in camelids, goats and deer.

The Welsh Assembly Government is consulting on proposed legislative arrangements
for managing and preventing incidents of bovine TB in non-bovine animals, specifically
camelids, goats and deer. Start of consultation: 19/08/2010 End of consultation:
11/11/2010. See link
to online form etc.

August 20th 2010 ~ "sadly as always, the decent honest and responsible herds
that are under restriction are going to be tarred with the same brush as those that
are not."

The August update of camelid herds under restriction shows that many herd owners
remain totally unaware that they have brought TB into their herds until they suffer
their first loss. The current figures, the perceived problems, and the needed actions
are all discussed - (as is a warm acknowledgement to MikeBirch who resigned from
the BAS Board in early August). Read camelid
update for August (link mended) - for which, grateful thanks as usual to Dianne
Summers.

A research paper dealing with a breakthrough in testing human patients in order
to identify which individuals will develop disease has implications for vaccine
and therapeutic development. (There is gathering evidence that those who go on to
develop invasive disease with a number of organisms have a different genetic profile
from those that do not.) Anything that adds to the pool of information about such
a complex disease must surely be helpful eventually to both humans and animals.

August 17th 2010 ~ "the change proposed would be a false economy as well as
adding to the stress of the farmers and animals concerned"

The Tenant Farmers Association chief executive, George Dunn, is quoted in the
Farmers
Guardian following the TFA's plea toJim Paice not to take responsibility for
TB testing away from local vets.

"New arrangements are to be introduced requiring
that all herds of more than 100 animals should be tested by a State Veterinary Officer
as opposed to a private veterinary practitioner"

|The motive for this change
has not been made clear but saving money seems to underlie most policy these days.
But TB testing forms a vital part of private vets' income and removing it will simply
increase financial pressures on both vets and farmers. Mr Dunn "insisted there were
other ways in which money could be saved, including updating the test which is around
50 years old." Read
the article.

August 16th 2010 ~ "I'd like Ruth's opinion of using the cattle 'microbiology'"

Pat Bird has sent this useful email to warmwell.com and wonders what the virologist
and farmer, Dr Ruth Watkins, might say in response. Ruth's reaction (see
below) to the 'management' of badgers plan, illustrated in Chris
Chapman's DVD was to point out the lack of microbiological back up. Pat Bird
writes:

"I know some who've seen the DVD or who have heard Bryan Hill speak
think that he goes on a farm, sniffs the air like a dog, and says this is the sett
of a 'skanky badger' or 'good badger'. But there really is far more to the 'management'
of an infected area than that, and it does involve a lot of veterinary info on the
cattle side, combined with wildlife fieldcraft.
.. There is microbiological support - the cattle. No one is using the cattle
test results and spoligotyping to pin point source any more. It used to be the package
which was used by AHO to ask for permission from the old Badger Panel, to conduct
a badger cull. A risk assessment done on farm records, (now with CTS / BCMS back
up ) to positively exclude any bought in cattle, postmortems, then a VLA spoligotype
on culture to identify the strain of TB. And finally a WLU field mapping to track
badgers or deer relative to cattle grazing areas. Often the sett responsible was
not on the farm which its inhabitants were foraging, in which case AHO couldn't
touch it! Statute changed in 1987 and reduced land available from 7 km down just
1km of any confirmed outbreak, and then only on 'land cattle had grazed'. So if
the sett was in an orchard, or ungrazed woodland, no one could touch it.
The management of infected badgers proposed by the film makers, goes back to this.
The area,( several farms not just one) is mapped and with veterinary input, cattle
test results are used. Then fieldcraft tracking shows healthy setts with cattle
testing clear, and also, from cattle reactors, where problem ones are. Visual inspections
of setts sometimes confirm, sometimes not. But the prime driver is the cattle information.
And that includes gross pathology, histology, cultures and spoligotyping.
Hope this helps."

August 12th 2010~ New Zealand government funds "an entirely new type of vaccine
that could increase the effectiveness of treating livestock against the disease"

"AgResearch scientists developing a vaccine
to protect cattle and deer from bovine tuberculosis, are also exploring an entirely
new type of vaccine that could increase the effectiveness of treating livestock
against the disease."

The research programme includes the development of improved
TB testing methods and will get further NZ Government funding of $750,000 (£341,000)
per year for five years.

August 10th 2010 ~ "The appeal court ruling is of course a major set back, especially
for those farmers whose businesses are being destroyed by this horrendous disease"

".... I encountered many who were quite understandably cross
and frustrated. For Wales this issue will now become entwined in politics, as there
is a Welsh Assembly election in May next year and any new proposal will need another
consultation and this will almost certainly rule out any cull this season.
For England, the coalition government commitment to introduce a carefully managed
and science-led policy of badger control in areas with bovine TB means that the
new Defra team will be hard at work, continuing to examine the options as I write
this. The ruling in Wales will not only help to make sure that these arguments are
well articulated but also that the procedure is legally watertight."

August 5th 2010 ~ "If I had received this email back in January 2009 not only
would I have understood why my alpaca had this reaction but I would have certainly
adopted a totally different approach."

For those who share concern about the severe progress of TB in affected camelids
- particularly the sudden deterioration after the skin test in some already infected
animals, these important documents
regarding side effects in camelids following the skin test jab will be of urgent
interest. Extract

"...Before you jump to the wrong conclusion and think the
skin test jab has given these animals Tb, this is not the case. ALL these alpacas
were found on post mortem to have advanced Tb lesions and for some unknown reason
had experienced this dramatic reaction. Many leading vets have already suggested
anaphylactic shock.
Those owners that carried out the Chembio Rapid Stat Pak test or Gamma test within
10 - 30 days following the skin test - the blood tests picked up ALL the animals
that had this dramatic reaction. Owners who didn't have blood test done had to endure
either the alpaca dying or developing severe clinical signs which required euthanasia
on welfare grounds.
Therefore, please monitor your herd very closely following the skin test procedure..."
Read in full

Thanks are once again due
to Dianne Summers. The video referred to can be seen on the Bovine
TB Blogspot

July 30th 2010 ~ " the importance of monitoring alpacas after a skin test should
not be underestimated."

Highly recommended to camelid owners - and indeed to anyone else who is concerned
and distressed at the impasse which is allowing bTB to continue unchecked - are
the latest posts from the Bovine TB Blogspot.
While those who know little about bTB continue to feel and express such anger at
farmers who want to protect their animals, the realities of the disease are borne
by the animals in which the disease develops and takes hold - badgers and alpacas
in particular - and by those who see at first hand the post-mortem evidence of this
destructive and ultimately horrifyingly painful disease.

July 27th 2010 ~ "...a beautiful and sensitive film....the most striking thing
to me is the lack of microbiology to back up the hypothesis put forward."

Once again, we are very grateful to the virologist, Dr Ruth Watkins, for her
continuing correspondence about
bovine TB. She has watched the DVD "The
Way Forward" and was evidently as impressed by it as so many others are. However,
she is worried by the comment "BCG vaccine would conceal infection in sick badgers
which is the big danger", explaining that in the context of M bovis infection
and BCG vaccination such a statement has little meaning. She points out that since
M bovis infection is a progressive infection, the bacterial load increases
and eventually the badger becomes sick. Before it

sick it will shed organisms so it is not only sick badgers that are infectious.
Once infected, whether they are vaccinated or not will make no difference. She is
impressed by "such careful mapping and observations" but says they "cry out for
modern microbiology..." Read email and some of
the correspondence that preceded it

July 26th 2010 ~ Reappraisal of triple therapy in oral bait

A fascinating email from Ruth Watkins demonstrates that those who really are
concerned about the urgency of the need to tackle bovine TB are prepared to keep
an open mind. As she says here:

".... I am finding out more about M bovis in
an effort to understand the infection and disease and to think outside the box.
... I have argued against Colin Fink's idea of putting out triple antibiotic therapy
bait for badgers hitherto. However if there is essentially a reservoir of M bovis
in badgers and cattle (and deer, camelids, cats etc) that humans almost never get
maybe such an approach together with vaccination of badgers and birth control of
badgers / population reduction would not be such a bad idea after all. Vaccination
of cattle and testing and culling of infected cattle would have to continue to get
rid of M bovis infection. The cycles of infection would be broken, stopping reinfection
of either badgers or cattle from the other species...."

This is an important,
albeit necessarily complicated email that sets out Dr Watkins' reasoning. It should
be read in full. Informed comments
would be very welcome.

July 22nd 2010 ~ Must we continue to watch the slaughter of thousands more cows,
bulls and alpacas, and to know that infected badgers are dying slowly and alone?

Just as Professor Fraser (see opposite
page) wants to see a scientifically based dialogue between the two sides in
the factory/extensive food production debate, there is a desperate need for the
polarised arguments about the best way forward to tackle bovine TB to be coolly
reconsidered. Dr Ruth Watkins is not only an expert in disease pathogens but also
a practical farmer who cares deeply and conscientiously for both the livestock and
the wildlife on her farm. She says that she

" ..used to believe that there was
insufficient evidence about 5 years ago to justify the killing of badgers which
seemed like part of the inane response.... to the FMD epidemic when of course there
was a highly effective vaccine ready for use. I have changed my mind about badgers
now..."

It is painful to contemplate the killing of badgers. The alternative,
until vaccine can be effectively given, is to watch the slaughter of thousands more
cows, bulls and alpacas, to know that infected badgers are enduring a slow, miserable
and painful end, and to see the threat to other mammals, including Man, increasing.

July 22nd 2010 ~ FUW president wants a legal cull of badgers carried out under
licence.

Any organised Welsh cull could now be a year away. Speaking at the Royal Welsh
Show on Tuesday, Gareth Vaughan said

"..that is too long for an industry which
is suffering terrible hardship."

Mr Vaughan pointed out that since the Welsh
Assembly won't be back in session until late September, no new legislation is likely
before the start of the closed season when badgers cannot be killed. "It may be
May before we are in a position to tackle the disease and that is too long away,"
he said. (See report on Farmers
Weekly)
At present, any application to carry out a large scale co-ordinated cull, even with
a commitment to sustained delivery and funding from farmers, would not be granted.
This is according to the relevant pre-May 11th DEFRA
webpage, (not yet updated to reflect any new policy on licences.)

July 17th 2010 ~ "The ISG's final report, published in 2007, explicitly states
that badgers contribute significantly to the disease in cattle." Jim Paice

Hansard
Mr Paice's comments on Thursday about the various (and contradictory) officially
observed effects of culling trials, about computer modelling, "biosecurity" and
progress with injectable and oral vaccines, can all be read on Hansard - but in
terms of clarity and urgency many might feel his remarks leave something to be desired.

July 17th 2010 ~ VLA now includes TB as "common" disease of camelids

Dianne Summers has kindly sent us the useful Veterinary
Information Sheet (pdf) (link mended - apologies) from the VLA's Miscellaneous
Exotic and Farmed Species Expert Group South American Camelids. It is an "Aide memoire
for the diagnosis of common disease syndromes." She adds

"The majority of the
diseases can be detected ante mortem (live animals) so this is vital information
as it details the tests and the diseases it can detect. The abortion section is
very interesting and proves the importance to PM all deaths including aborted cria.
All these tests can be arranged through your vet - who can arrange tests with the
VLA on your behalf."

She also emphasises that it is about time breeders' websites
stopped implying that alpacas rarely get ill or get many diseases. "Breeders websites
should state that camelids are subject to diseases the same as all other livestock,"
she says.

July 15th 2010 ~ "Human" TB is no longer a disease of the past

The
Independent today reports: ".. there has been a resurgence and the incidence
has steadily increased. There were 9,153 cases among adults and children recorded
in the UK in 2009, the largest annual increase (5.5 per cent) since 2005..." Public
Health specialists now advise that all babies born in London should be vaccinated.
Unfortunately, vaccination against TB is not without its problems (as we have discussed
below in connection with animals) BCG is known to have little impact on the prevalence
of the infectious adult tuberculosis, responsible for the spread of the disease
in the community. ( The vaccine that was intended to be used in badgers is identical
to the BCG vaccine widely used in humans. It is manufactured by the Statens Serum
Institute, in Copengagen, which produces vast quantities of the human vaccine. For
a discussion about the limitations of present vaccines, see
below.)

July 15th 2010 ~ NBA reaction to High Court decision: "No farmer or farmers'
organisation has ever envisaged eliminating
badgers from the countryside.."

" the request has been that there should be a targeted cull in limited areas
by qualified and licensed persons, and even then only where the TB disease can be
shown to be present in a high proportion of badgers." The National Beef Association's
Kim Haywood, in this press release
explains that the High Court ruling could mean that the disease will now spread
to healthy badger setts. Over the next ten years "the spread is expected to cost
many farmers a lot of money and distress, and the tax-payer more than £1 billion..."

"..Records show that TB erupts among badgers in heavily infected areas when
their population is too thick on the ground and immediately reduces when it is thinner
after infected badgers are removed. ..." Read
the NBA press release in full

The NBA wants the public to comprehend the
huge increase in the number of badgers which, as a result of the judgment, will
now die an unpleasant emaciated death from TB. They add that the "Appeal Judges'
other fear, that badgers in Britain would become extinct if they were subject to
anti-TB culling, can be challenged with confidence." Read
in full

July 14th 2010 ~ TB in alpacas - "we need to change the way we do things - sharpish"

".....The skin test fails to detect the vast majority of TB
infected camelids - so it goes without saying the risk of TB is very much on all
of our minds but it isn't only TB we need to consider- its any disease that can
be contracted by coming into contact with other alpacas/llamas e.g. Bvd, mange,
mites, gastro intestinal parasites in particular E-Mac - diseases that can kill
- so we need to change the way we do things - sharpish and one of those is mating
- the other is buying..."

July 13th 2010 ~ The Welsh Badger cull order has been quashed by the Court of
Appeal.

The Badger Trust's appeal against plans to trap and shoot badgers in West Wales
has been upheld by the three law lords in Cardiff's High Court today. Lord Justice
Pill said the Welsh Assembly was wrong to make an order for the whole of Wales when
it had consulted on the basis of a Intensive Action Pilot Area (IAPA), which only
supported a cull on evidence within the IAPA. The articles to read so far are: Press
Association and Farmers
Guardian "Badger cull decision 'bitterly disappointing' - NFU" and Farmers
Weekly
The Farmers' Union of Wales have called it a "bitterly disappointing outcome".

"Farmers
are doing their bit to control this disease, yet the court has decided that the
most significant obstacle to controlling this disease, namely an highly infected
badger population, cannot be addressed until further consideration of the facts
is undertaken by the Assembly's Rural Affairs Minister.
Farmers throughout Wales, from Anglesey down to Monmouthshire, have been doing their
bit to combat bTB for decades, and are now subject to more movement restrictions
and bTB testing than ever before, all at huge expense."

Meanwhile, a farmer
writes on the FWi forum: "... Having just gone clear after 2 years l fully expect
to go down again this autumn. We have picked up several dead badgers on this farm,
thin with very long claws, they died of something, and it was not us helping them
on their way. Fencing the cattle away from the badgers is not viable, as they are
everywhere, using the same water sources to drink, the same pasture to find feed..."
(See FWi
forum comments)

July 7th 2010 ~ "It's time our film was circulated..."

A recent letter to the sponsors of "Bovine
TB - A Way Forward" expressed a certain disappointment at the way the DVD seemed
not to have come to the attention of people who could well have been moved and impressed
by it. As the letter (pdf
here) said, the lack of progress was largely as a result of pleas from the proponents
of the VLA9 Project (ie the project set up in Devon and North Cornwall in 2008,
covering an area where that particular bTb spoligotype is found) that the film
would scupper the chance of its success. Chris Chapman added, "I have said
it a thousand times and I will say it again:

The reason for making our film
was to educate the public on the tragedy of this disease and to try to bridge the
gap between the farming industry, wildlife groups and a largely ill-informed public....the
simple fact is that Bryan Hill's strategy works and there are many out there who
will give testimony to this... "

Read the
letter in full. Since its circulation in the past fortnight, we understand that
there have been many more enquiries. (The 25 minute film can be purchased for £4.99,
which includes postage and packing. It is available through Chris Chapman's website
at www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk.
The squeamish need feel no reluctance to watch it. We found it to dwell - not on
recrimination or sadness - but on positive steps that can be taken. And it is beautifully
filmed and edited.)

July 2nd 2010 ~ Dropped Trials: "Our initial costs were about £1.1m for
a whole area. By the time we finished it was £2.2m for half an area"

The
Farmers Guardian suggests that the badger vaccination project was "doomed all
along" because, according to an anonymous contractor, the costs of the project had
spiralled out of control after having been pushed up by the 'red tape and bureaucracy'
attached to the operation, such as limiting the time they could operate to three
hours each day and requiring at least two visits to trap sites. The contractor quoted
said the process had cost his small business around £10,000 so far - money
which will now not be recouped. "It makes you think twice about doing anything else."
Read
in full

July 1st 2010 ~ "We will set out our proposals in due course, including the
estimated costs." Jim Paice

The exchange yesterday in Parliament on the subject of what the present government
intends to do about the control of bTB infected badgers can be read from
Hansard here. Among other things, Mr Paice said that DEFRA-funded expenditure
on bovine tuberculosis in England had been £63 million last year. He added
that the Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (BVDP) was reviewed (see immediately
below) "in order to help maintain capacity at the Food and Environment Research
Agency to train lay vaccinators." (How reluctant politicians are to explain
that in the present financial crisis, some plans just cost too much and are being
ditched.)

June 24th 2010 ~ Vaccination trials now reduced to only one

Farmers
Weekly reports that the trial in Stroud, Gloucestershire, will begin next month
and continnue over a five year period.

"A second area in Gloucestershire will
only now be used for sett survey work while the remaining areas - two in Devon,
one in Staffordshire and one in Herefordshire/Worcestershire have been scrapped."

June 21st 2010 ~ The apparently healthy little alpaca - but he had TB lesions
all through his organs

We have just been sent two short video clips the Camelid TB Support Group, via
Dianne Summers. She writes:

"The purpose of this video is not to break your
heart (and it will) but to show you how perfectly healthy an alpaca can look and
yet be riddled with TB having PASSED a skin test. The first clip was taken an hour
before he was put down. He was in his pen - alone waiting to be culled. He wasn't
showing any signs of ANY illness, let alone TB. He had passed the skin test twice
but failed the blood test. No outward signs at all.
This wee alpaca was culled one hour after the footage was taken.... had TB lesions
throughout his entire organs. Sadly, for those of us that are in the TB Support
group - who have culled reactors to the blood tests - this is an all too familiar
sight, but for others - it should open your eyes to the silent killer known as TB..."

She emphasises that you cannot rely on the skin test alone to detect TB
infected alpacas It is

"..the reason why we cannot trade with any confidence
if we come out of restriction having only used the skin test and supports both my
advice and that of BVCS vet, Gina Bromage, not to consider selling - showing - moving
alpacas around for a minimum of one year maybe two - maybe longer - on the back
of a negative skin test."

She concludes that she is grateful to " the kind
member of the TB Support Group who sent me these clips. The reason is simple - it
is to educate others."

(Please email warmwell.com
for copies of the video clips and Dianne's message in full. Camelid owners may want
to visit the highly recommended tbinalpacas.blogspot.com/
for its most recent posting on shearing at a time of TB threat. )

June 11th 2010 ~ The badger cull in Wales will be delayed. The Court of Appeal
has agreed to an expedited hearing on 30 June

The Farmers
Guardian reports that the Welsh Assembly Government has taken a decision to
suspend the start of its planned West Wales badger cull until the outcome is known
on the Badger Trust initiated High Court appeal. See also Farmers
Weekly:

"The Welsh Assembly Government had initially said that it would
press ahead with a cull despite the successful lodging of an appeal by lawyers working
for the Badger Trust. Rural affairs minister Elin Jones said that its initial decision
to go ahead had been made because the appeal was not listed for hearing until between
November 2010 and February 2011. "But it has emerged that the Court of Appeal has
agreed to an expedited hearing on 30 June," said Miss Jones..."

(One correspondent
to the FG
laconically asks: "When will the cow cull be suspended?")

June 4th 2010 ~ "The randomised badger culling trial has for years wrongly been
used to justify a policy of inaction." Sarah Wollaston MP

The new MP for Totnes, who is also a practising GP, made her maiden
speech on Wednesday. It included comments about her support for Transition Towns
and for ridding the NHS of top-down bureaucracy. Like so many, she would like to
see power handed back to those on the front line. On bovine TB she was very clear:

"We are fast losing our sustainability as more and more dairy farms in particular
go out of business because of the problems of bovine tuberculosis. Devon is, in
fact, at the very heart of the bovine TB epidemic. As a doctor, I have to tell Members
that we cannot treat infected badgers by vaccination. Vaccination can only hope
to prevent the disease in unaffected individuals. I have been teaching junior doctors
evidence-based medicine for 11 years, and I can say that one of the problems we
face is that the randomised badger culling trial has for years wrongly been used
to justify a policy of inaction. Unless we do something about bovine TB, more and
more of our farmers will go out of business. We need to recognise the effect on
them and their families, and the very real distress bovine TB causes them."

May 21st 2010 ~ Farming Today - Listen again to James Paice this morning

The 10 minute clip will be available on iplayer (radio) for 7 days. The
BBC says, "A cull of badgers in England has been announced by the new coalition
Government to help reduce the spread of TB in cattle which has cost the taxpayer
£100million a year. Welcomed by farmers' groups and opposed by wildlife organisations
Charlotte Smith speaks to Farming Minister Jim Paice about the plans, hears reaction
to the news and speaks to scientists who say it could actually make the situation
worse. "

May 20th 2010 ~ James Paice announced an eventual badger cull in the West Country

Jim Paice seems to have confirmed at the Devon County Show today that Devon
and Cornwall will get a badger cull as soon as possible. Although the BBC
report is rather thin on detail, Mr Paice's actual words were:

"We are working
on how we pull the science together and how we make sure that it is properly co-ordinated.
We've got to find the right locations to identify the hot spot areas. We've got
to work out who is going to do the culling and how it's going to be co-ordinated."

May 20th 2010 ~ Plans for an emergency cull of badgers in hotspots of bovine
TB are to be put on hold while Caroline Spelman "reviews the scientific evidence"

Although the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats supported an emergency
cull of badgers during the election campaign and (see below) Jim Paice had said
to the Farmers Guardian: "We would hopefully get on with it almost immediately.
We cannot go on with the absurd situation where we are killing more and more cattle
every year and getting nowhere", we now read in today's Times:
".....Ministers will also await the outcome of a pilot cull in West Wales before
embarking on such a policy in England......... The Conservatives have always seen
vaccination as the eventual breakthrough to control the disease, although before
the election Jim Paice, the Agriculture Minister, met officials at the Porton Down
research establishment to see if it is possible to test badger setts for infection
before any animals are killed." (See also Meat
trade news Daily "..The two parties now have the opportunity to nail their true
colours to the mast and show they are prepared to influence and drive change to
current TB policy within government. We urge that discussions are initiated immediately
in order to prevent any further spread of this insidious disease...")

May 14th 2010 ~ in the run up to the election was a Tory commitment to implement
a badger cull in England.

James Paice, the new DEFRA Minister, who still keeps cattle, is quoted in the
Farmers
Guardian today: "We would hopefully get on with it almost immediately. We cannot
go on with the absurd situation where we are killing more and more cattle every
year and getting nowhere."

An email from Dianne Summers yesterday explained pleased she was to be able
to announce that her name and that of the TB Support Group are now added onto the
AnimalHealth/DEFRA letter of consent to test. This is the document given to new
herds that have the misfortune to come down to TB and one that they must sign when
they agree to test. She says, " I am thankful to AH/DEFRA for this and proves not
only that we are working together but also they recognise the TB Support Group as
invaluable help for fellow camelid sufferers."
Today Dianne Summers has placed two very important updates on the TB in alpacas
blog. Go to www.tbinalpacas.blogspot.com
She says,

"The first is an update on the latest figures; the second is a
very important announcement on the camelid gamma interferon validation project.
It is easier for me to put updates on the Tb blog rather than send out over a 150
emails - I am sure you can all appreciate that. The owners of the blog have kindly
agreed to post any updates I give them. The other benefit of my updates going on
the blog is the information is made available to everyone not just those in the
TB update Group. You can also place comments below a particular post if you wish
to give an opinion...."

May 3rd 2010 ~ A new TB Blog for alpaca owners

Dianne Summers writes, "....What I like about this blog is that it welcomes
and supports not only people wanting to know more about TB but encourages people
like myself and my fellow alpaca owners that are in the Tb Support Group under restriction
to also contribute.."
See email or go straight to the new
website www.tbinalpacas.blogspot.com.

April 30th/May 1st 2010 ~ " We must all hope that the Welsh trial will produce
evidence that makes similar action inevitable in the rest of the UK."

A Wiltshire farmer writes, "This is the most significant quote in the BVA statement
(here) about the threat
of bluetongue from imports:

By failing to control one disease we are
laying ourselves open to another. We must all hope that the Welsh trial to control
TB in wildlife as well as in the cattle population will produce evidence that makes
similar action inevitable in the rest of the UK"

The Farmers
Guardian reports that the new cattle control measures beginning on Saturday
(May 1) are to include the testing of herds every six months.

"...All breakdowns,
whether or not 'confirmed' by post-mortem, will require a clear test 60 days after
a positive test, followed by a further clear test after a further 60 days, before
official TB free status is regained and movement restrictions can be removed.
Breakdowns will also be subject to tracing which will generate additional testing
for associated cattle herds.
There will also be restrictions on cattle movements within and outside the area.
All British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) linkages and Sole Occupancy Authorities
(SOAs) between holdings inside and outside the pilot area are being cancelled, requiring
farmers to report all movements to BCMS and comply with pre-movement testing requirements...."

See also Farmers
Weekly "Wales has not ruled out the possibility of using the vaccine to protect
clean populations of badgers."

"....We have given alpacas a
considerable airing on this site, as unfortunately for them, they are particularly
susceptible to tuberculosis..have the ability to become infectious very quickly,
to spread the disease between themselves and the potential to transmit to TB to
their owners or other mammals.
Unfortunately, even squeezed down to practically zero, the intradermal skin test
is not a good indicator of TB exposure in alpacas, and Defra have recently pulled
the financial rug on one promising supplementary blood test. The reason given for
this was ''lack of funding'. But the cynical amongst us would point out that the
"don't look, won't find" culture thrives in the upper echelons of Defra. Particularly
as we understand that the BAS has offered to underwrite the costs of validating
blood tests on behalf of their members...."

April 25th 2010 ~ bTB not a "negligible public health problem in the UK, providing
milk is pasteurized"?

In the interests of trying to look at this difficult issue from all sides, our
attention has been brought to a recent article in Trends
in Microbiology by Paul and David Torgerson (cited by Wikipedia's
page on the subject of Mycobacterium bovis), which argues that from the
point of view only of human health, "there is little evidence either for a positive
cost benefit in terms of animal health of bTB control" and that there is "little
justification for the large sums of money spent on bTB control in the UK." More
on this from www.bovinetb.co.uk

April 22nd 2010 ~ "...the success of the programme to date is a credit to the
agricultural industry and to those people dedicated to eradicating TB from New Zealand."

See Scoop.co.nz
for a report on how successful New Zealand is in controlling TB. Extract: "...The
pest control operations being undertaken by the AHB in 2010 are designed to stop
the transfer of infection between possums and cattle....Last month's figures indicate
that possum and other pest control operations are working. Yet there is still someway
to go before we can claim to be free from TB. ...as it stands, infected wild animals
inhabit an estimated 38 per cent of New Zealand's land mass..."

April 22nd 2010 ~ "Proposals allowing English farmers to cull infected badgers
will be placed before the next DEFRA secretary, whichever political party wins power
in the general election on 6 May."

Farmers
Weekly "Farmers in England have been unable to obtain badger removal licences
since DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn refused to sanction a badger cull last year. But
farm leaders believe there is no reason for the ban to remain in place.."

April 16th 2010 ~ The High Court has ruled that the Welsh badger cull may go
ahead

(See also below) The
High Court has rejected claims from the Badger Trust that the proposed cull has
no scientific basis and is not a suitable way to eradicate the disease.
The cull can now begin in the next few months . The trial is due to take place in
north Pembrokeshire, and a small part of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. See Farmers
Guardian and the
BBC.
The British Veterinary Association press
release (extract)

"Veterinary associations have welcomed the High Court
ruling that the Welsh Assembly Government's decision to implement a targeted badger
cull to tackle bovine tuberculosis is lawful following a Judicial Review called
by the Badger Trust."

Professor Bill Reilly, President of the British Veterinary
Association, is quoted

"The BVA and BCVA welcome the outcome of the Judicial
Review ...This is a highly emotive issue and we understand that many people will
be disappointed with the decision, but it is essential that a wide range of measures
are employed to tackle this devastating disease and we believe that should include
a targeted cull of badgers.."

April 15th 2010 ~ Protecting against the incursion of TB at Shows

Dianne Summers of the TB Support Group (camelids) has kindly sent us this pdf
file on Biosecurity issued by the British Alpaca Society to help those who intend
to show their animals.

April 15th 2010 ~ The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers appeals to
candidates

The
Farmers Weekly quotes the chairman of RABDF, David Cotton, who predicts that
TB slaughterings could increase to over 21,000 head, more than 1% of the
entire dairy herd.

"....There is also the knock on effect of lost lifetime performance,
as well as herd genetics. These losses are undoubtedly reducing the number of replacements
available, and equally alarming, they are making a significant contribution to the
increase in imports.."

He says that the Association is aware of the importance
of the rural vote in this election and they "..look forward to the next Government
reviewing current policy and implementing one that will prove both efficient and
cost effective by controlling and eradicating TB."

April 10th 2010 ~ " If bovine TB was only present in cattle, we could eradicate
it by testing alone. But because it is also present in badgers in areas such as
west Wales, testing is not enough."

Serious and informed opinion from a practising vet, Paul Rodgers, in an interview
with the Western
Telegraph He is very clear about the efficacy of testing and about what present
vaccines can and cannot do.

"...The present crisis is such that we do not have
time for a vaccination policy in infected areas to work. When a practical oral vaccine
is developed, it may be possible to keep uninfected badgers healthy, but that is
still years away.
I look forward to a time when I will not have to tell another farmer that his best
cow has to be killed and when many thousands of badgers no longer die a slow, unpleasant
death due to TB."

April 8th 2010 ~ "no licences will be issued for culling badgers for the purpose
of preventing the spread of bTB in cattle"

When asked yesterday whether he planned to take steps to (a) eliminate and (b)
reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in wildlife Jim Fitzpatrick told the
House of Commons (Hansard):
"The key issue with bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in wildlife is when the disease is
transmitted to livestock." Although he admitted that ".... Vaccination is not 100
per cent. effective in terms of protection, he then went on to say that the Government's
policy is that "no licences will be issued for culling badgers for the purpose of
preventing the spread of bTB in cattle, although we remain open to the possibility
of revisiting this policy under exceptional circumstances, or if new scientific
evidence were to become available."

April 7th 2010 ~ DEFRA will pay just over £630,000 to fund research into
"farmer confidence" in bTB badger vaccination

What is described as a "major social science study" is to accompany the Government's
Bovine TB Badger Vaccine Deployment Project (or "BVDP" as it will be known by its
inevitable acronym), We read at www.farminguk.comthat
the 'research' will be carried out in collaboration with Exeter and Cardiff Universities,
Drew Associates Limited, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Food and Environment
Research Agency (Fera)

"The social science study has been funded for four years
in the first instance and will assess the level of farmer confidence in the use
of vaccination before, during and after vaccine deployment. It will also identify
motivators and barriers that could influence the future use of TB vaccines..."

There
were no comments under the article when we looked at it. (Could words be failing
those who read it?)

April 2nd 2010 ~ "No stress then"

The latest from the bovinetb.blogspot.com
comments that what seems like a slight reduction in slaughter and new herd incidents
in DEFRA's
2009 TB statistics needs to be considered in the light of the dwindling number
of cattle herds. The number of herds affected taken as a percentage of this is actually
up. Cattle herds in the East show an increase of 35% in herds affected by TB during
2009, while the North (including Staffs, Derby and Cheshire) recorded a 53% increase
in herd restrictions. As for the practicalities of vaccinating badgers in the hot
spots:

"......Cage trapping badgers already endemically infected with tuberculosis?
Holding a wild animal for hours in this cage? Large man appears to turn cage on
its end, and stick toasting fork across the bars to secure the not-too-happy occupant,
nose down, bum up in said cage? Jabbing them with a (very) long hyperdermic? Applying
splodge of paint (not lead based) to identify a once-vaccinated badger? And then
releasing it? Repeating this annually? No stress then".

Ken Wignall's splendid
cartoon, gratefully
reproduced on the Blog, wryly emphasises how the difficulties of badger vaccination
can so easily be underestimated.

March 30th 2010 ~ Vaccine for use in badgers has been approved by the Veterinary
Medicines Directorate (VMD).

As the Farmers Guardian says today, "Authorisation for the BadgerBCG vaccine
was officially granted last week, paving the way for vaccination to begin in six
bovine TB (bTB) hotspot areas of England this summer. The vaccine used in badgers
will be identical to the BCG vaccine widely used in humans and will be manufactured
by the Statens Serum Institute, in Copengagen, which produces vast quantities of
the human vaccine." Read
in full

March 25th 2010 ~ Waiting for the High Court judge's decision

On 22nd and 23rd March Mr Justice Lloyd Jones heard arguments from representatives
of both the Welsh Assembly and the Badger Trust. He is expected to make a judgement
in the next two weeks. The 5 culls proposed for a pilot area of about 178 square
miles will start at the end of April or early May when the badgers have finished
breeding.
Today the Farmers
Guardian reports that Jim Fitzpatrick has said the outcome of the Judicial Review
about Wales will make no difference to England's policy:

"We made our decision
before Wales did. We have invested millions to support vaccination. The outcome
of the Welsh court case won't affect us at all, other than being of great interest"

March 24th 2010 ~ Today is World Tuberculosis day...

What we are seeing in the UK however is an increasingly furious divide between
those who support the Welsh plan for a limited cull of badgers in hotspots and those
who cannot understand any need for it at all. On one side there is the Badger Trust,
or individuals such as Brian May of the group 'Queen' for example, who express outrage
at the idea that badgers should be culled at all (Mr May calls it "genocide" and
his account of the first day of the Swansea judicial review can be read
here.)
On the other side are those who, as we say
below, are the ones who have suffered from the restrictions on and slaughter
of their animals and astonished by the anger they hear in the media. Dr Ruth Watkins
is not only an expert in disease pathogens but also a practical farmer who cares
deeply and conscientiously for both the livestock and the wildlife on her farm.
She says that she

" ..used to believe that there was insufficient evidence about
5 years ago to justify the killing of badgers which seemed like part of the inane
response of DEFRA, Kill Kill Kill as they so horribly responded to the FMD epidemic
in doing, when of course there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use. I have
changed my mind about badgers now..."

It is painful to contemplate the killing
of badgers. The alternative, until vaccine can be effectively given, is to watch
the slaughter of thousands more cows, bulls and alpacas, to know that infected badgers
are enduring a slow, miserable and painful end, and to see the threat to other mammals,
including Man, increasing.

The Badger Trust is challenging the legality of the TB Eradication (Wales) Order
2009 of the Welsh Assembly Government in which a cull of trapped badgers will take
place over 288 sq km in the "hot spots" of south Ceredigion, north Pembrokeshire
and Carmarthenshire. All culled badgers will have post- mortems and each cattle
TB incident will be investigated. Of the 1,500 landowners in the area consulted,
seven refused a visit and just over 20 opposed the cull. The pilot area has natural
geographical barriers, such as the sea, rivers and the Preseli Hills, so perturbation
will be reducd.
Although the Assembly Government sanctioned the cull after an ecological survey
showed it was "compatible with the relevant environmental legislation", the Badger
Trust is making a separate formal complaint under the Bern Convention on the Conservation
of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. The judicial review is listed for a two
day oral hearing, which will take place today and tomorrow, before Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones.
See also Western
Telegraph

March 22nd 2010 ~ "The animals culled appeared very healthy, had no visible
signs of bTB, no lesions and the tissue culture was negative"

The author of the website, www.bovinetb.co.uk,
who began studying the subject in depth after their herd breakdown (a non commercial,
closed herd, kept for conservation grazing only) "The animals culled appeared very
healthy, had no visible signs of bTB, no lesions and the tissue culture was negative":

"....a lonely business as so few seem to care and it is very time consuming
trying to achieve much with limited spare time. I am not a scientist but I do have
many years' experience of caring for livestock and a good deal of commonsense. If
you could mention our website on your site or any of the information on it this
would be very useful."

As Alistair Driver in the Farmers
Guardian says, "Concerns that bTB is becoming increasingly prevalent in species
other than cattle and badgers have been heightened by the discovery of the disease
in sheep and wild boar. It has emerged that a flock of Lleyn sheep in Gloucestershire
has been placed under TB restriction."
Vets noticed chronic weight loss in 20 of 220 ewes and one ram, and in three of
the six sheep the local strain of M. bovis, spoligotype 10, was found at
postmortem. Lesions in these three sheep were "extensive" as a letter in the Veterinary
Record reports. Over 140 bTB cases in individual animals other than cattle were
identified in 2009 according to DEFRA but, as the FG says, the true numbers are
almost certainly much higher. Read
in full

March 16th 2010 ~ Cutaneous TB caused by M bovis in a veterinary surgeon following
contact with a TB-infected alpaca in southwest England.

An article(pdf file, link working
but slow) in the Veterinary Record (2010) 166, 175-177 describes (complete with
very graphic photograph) the case of a 25 year old vet, vaccinated against BCG and
wearing surgical gloves at the time of post-mortem, who contracted TB after euthanising
an infected alpaca.

"...she had not worn gloves when euthanasing the cria and
her hands had accidentally been contaminated with blood at the time of venepuncture.
Six weeks after the postmortem examination, she noticed a tingling sensation in
the tip of her right thumb, but no lesion was visible at that time. After a further
three weeks, a painful, circular, pale lesion approximately 4 mm in diameter developed
at the site....
..there is still a risk of infection for people whose occupation involves close
contact with tuberculous animals.. Extensive pulmonary pathology is a common feature
of M bovis-infected South American camelids... Aerosol transmission is therefore
a possible route of infection for animal handlers.." (See
article)

As Dianne Summers (to whom many thanks for passing on the article)
remarks, "It is a perfect example of why TB is a zoonosis disease and notifiable,"
adding that those whose camelid herds are under restriction to TB should take necessary
measures to protect family, staff and shearer.

March 12th 2010 ~ The US welcomes a portable, rapid TB sensor. Will the UK?

What is described in Scientific
American this week is a "field friendly" device that relies on readily available
and relatively low-cost components and can find the lethal pathogen in blood in
just 20 minutes.
The article quotes Kathy Orloski (pdf),
a veterinary epidemiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Tuberculosis
Eradication Program in Fort Collins, Colo, who says the country's cattle industry
would welcome a rapid test for bovine TB.

"Cows currently are screened for the
disease with skin tests like those used in people, a process that requires animals
to be handled twice in three days, driving up costs for ranchers. Dairy or beef
cattle infected with TB are euthanized. Government inspectors at slaughterhouses
would likewise benefit from an immediate on-site detection method, helping them
identify carcasses of infected cows faster than current laboratory testing, which
takes up to 48 hours to process tissue samples."

Will the UK likewise welcome
this inexpensive rapid diagnosis kit the size of a shoebox - or will it remain as
blind and deaf to such technology as it has been with the rapid diagnostics for
FMD that, tragically, were available in 2001 but ignored? At the time of the 2007
outbreak there was a US PCR test sophisticated enough to detect foot and mouth infected
animals 2 or 3 days before they showed any outward signs of disease and before virus
could be identified by any other means - but once again, it was ignored.
Since 2004, Dr Roger Breeze has been advising the US Defense Department on the biological
weapons program and its scientists in the old Soviet Union as the Chief Scientist
for Biological Weapons control - his operation is now expanding to include Afghanistan,
Pakistan and East Africa - then southeast Asia. An expert on pathogen detection
and control, at the time of the FMD outbreak in 2007 he wrote

"...British veterinary authorities and the government's Chief Scientist,
David King, have known about this technology since 2001 - they were told in advance
long before the paper was published so they could get a head start on adding this
to Britain's list of foot and mouth counter-measures.
As a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of almost 40 years, I am
astounded and baffled as to why the government is allowed to continue to practise
obsolete veterinary medicine that is clearly contrary to the welfare of animals
that the government has decided shall be solely in its care..." Read
in full

Given the political disaster that bTB now is in this country, perhaps
DEFRA will at last look a little further afield for help.

March 10th 2010 ~ Latest from the Bovine TB Blogspot "This is what TB does.."

The posting looks at what it calls the "blindingly naive and misleading statement
by the Badger Trust, issued last week and criticising farmers for pointing out the
effect tuberculosis has on badgers." The
TB Blogspot posting contains images of diseased badgers that, it says, "should"
(sic) cause distress

"....how about this for 'scientific evidence'. An emaciated
badger, drowning in the fluids issuing from a massive tuberculous pleurisy. This
can occur when a lung abscess bursts and affects the surrounding membranes. Pleurisy
is extremely painful, and this animal would certainly have shown respiratory distress
before death.
That's what tuberculosis does."

As the Farmers
Guardian reported last week, when Jim Fitzpatrick finally admitted recently
that he had not before recognised "the pain and suffering being inflicted on the
badger population", adding it was "almost" as much an issue for their welfare and
survival as it is for dairy herds, the Badger Trust reacted with scorn, calling
descriptions of badger suffering "emotional propaganda" and "scaremongering".
This website has carried photographs
of the grim state of diseased badgers for the past four years. It is extraordinary
that the Badger Trust continues to deny the suffering that infected badgers endure.

Many thanks to Rob and to Dianne Summers for this note about fencing against
badgers. Extract:

"... badger netting is actually very expensive indeed. The
best product available is actually made in the UK by Tornado fencing in Cumbria.
Currently the best price we could find is @ £150 + VAT per roll covering just
50m each roll. That is also the cheapest we have been quoted for, so that is what
we are installing.
The process involves digging a trench 450mm deep by 200mm wide. The fencing is then
buried vertically 450 mm down with a horizontal pitch 200mm away from the property
being protected. This is very labour intensive (even with a 360 digger), and therefore
slows down the whole installation work and costs extra money.
On a physical point, it's the weight of the wire netting that is the biggest problem,
each roll weighs 90 kilos. That takes some carrying, it's also hi-tensile and wants
to roll its self back up like a huge spring. When a 90 kilo roll of metal comes
zinging at you rolling its self up, be prepared to run, it's gonna really hurt if
it hits you. However once installed, I defy any badger to get through it.."

February 27th 2010 ~ "I rather think that Mr Fitzpatrick didn't seem to understand
my point," Ken Proctor, former president of the Holstein Cattle Society

A story in www.edp24.co.uk
is about the Norfolk farmer, Mr Proctor, who bought three cows from a dispersal
sale in a four-year testing parish. Being six months into a four-year bTB testing
cycle himself, he had the new cows privately tested. If he had not, the infected
animals could have mixed with his herd and infected them without anyone knowing
for perhaps as many as 7 years. Mr Proctor expressed his concern at the lengthy
delay in tracing other animals bought at the sale:

"The speed at which cases
are tackled is horrendous. What really irritates me is that they still hadn't followed
up the farm where the cows had been, and we didn't get a letter until about three
weeks ago. They had waited four months before sending out tracing letters."

Thanks
to the efforts of Mid-Norfolk MP Keith Simpson, Mr Proctor was able to tell Jim
Fitzpatrick about the implications to the family's business, "I rather think that
Mr Fitzpatrick didn't seem to understand my point," he said. (read
in full.)

February 26th 2010 ~"The scientists hope their research will lead to vaccines
to prevent bovine tuberculosis, as well as tools to provide more accurate, faster
diagnoses in the field"

Media
Newswire quotes Ofelia Barletta-Chacon, a physician and microbiologist with
more than 20 years of experience with tuberculosis, who's conducting research with
her husband, Raul Barletta, a microbiologist with more than 25 years of experience
with mycobacteria. They are hoping to develop approaches in vaccination, diagnosis
and treatment that could be adapted to all mycobacterial diseases, whether they
strike human beings or animals.

"Bovine tuberculosis can be devastating economically,
as its discovery in an animal requires its destruction and, potentially, culling
of other animals....Inaccurate results are not unusual with current tests. A false
positive bovine tuberculosis test, even if later overturned by more extensive testing,
can do great economic damage."

February 26th 2010 ~ bTB in New Zealand - drop in infection rates for 15th consecutive
year

"... The AHB is very proud to deliver some direct benefits to some of the 75,000
cattle and deer herds registered with the organisation. We have achieved this through
proactive possum control, TB testing and stock movement monitoring....Farmers' support
for the eradication of TB is a key ingredient to the successful implementation of
the National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest Management Strategy.."

Developments in
New Zealand's research ( see www.landcareresearch.co.nz
) include delivering vaccination through new baits as well as reduced reliance on
poisons.

February 25 2010 ~ Does the Minister share my concern and understand the anger
of many dairy farmers throughout the land who have seen their herds decimated?

In yesterday's debate, Lord
Plumb was speaking from a lifetime's experience and sympathy for fellow farmers
when he said to Lord Davies of Oldham, DEFRA's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State:

" Forty thousand cattle with TB were lost or slaughtered last year; I
think it was 41,000 the year before. And so it goes on. And so it will go on this
year. Some of those animals and herds have been totally decimated. One can therefore
understand the reaction. What is the cost to the taxpayer of dealing with the problem?
Furthermore, what is the cost to the nation of the loss of production of both milk
and dairy products that could be produced in this country, when we are in fact importing
millions of litres of milk which would be totally unnecessary if only this disease
could be got under control?"

Unfortunately, all Lord Davies of Oldham seemed
able to say was that the Government were "greatly concerned" adding that there was
"no clear evidence that the culling of badgers will solve the problem." After mentioning
the vaccination experiment he said that the Welsh study would be carefully watched
and that "We are of course open to persuasion that progress could be made along
those lines."
It is to be hoped that the government is fully aware of the new bTB test developed
in the US and will follow America in making all speed to have such a test licensed
for the UK.

February 24th 2010 ~ New bTB test developed in the US

(Read in full at veterinarynews.dvm360.com)
"Dr. William Davis, a professor in the Washington State University (WSU) Department
of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, developed a new test for bovine tuberculosis
(bTB). The test can detect up to 25 antigens at once and could one day replace current
skin and gamma interferon tissue culture tests, WSU says. The new test can make
early diagnosis of the disease, for which there is no effective treatment, easier
it reportedly detects bTB quicker and more accurately than previous tests."
See also wsunews.wsu.edu
which quotes Dr Davis

"Our test can provide results in a matter of hours rather
than days with current methods. It also has increased specificity and is highly
sensitive, so there are fewer false positives. Bovine TB is a worldwide problem
and it can be in a dairy or cattle herd a long time before an animal has symptoms.
It can then spread to the rest of the herd. And if it is in animals, it can transfer
to people."

An effort is being made to license this new test in the U.S

February 24th 2010 ~ At least 30 camelid herds are now under restriction

We are grateful to Dianne Summers for her update on the situation for owners
of alpacas and llamas who are in contact with her. As of 31st Dec 2009 DEFRA confirmed
22 herds are under restriction. A further 8 herds since Jan 1st have come forward
to the Tb support Group who have lost their first to Tb since Jan 1st 2010. Therefore
a minimum of 30 herds are currently under restriction.
This time last year only 8 herds were under restriction.
Camelids are, as we say below, highly susceptible
to bTB, and - it seems - become as infectious as badgers very quickly. Unlike badgers,
however, they die quickly. The spread of the bacterium between herds during mating,
or at shows, means that cross infection between other species, particularly human
contacts, is a risk too serious to ignore. (More)

February 23rd 2010 ~ NFU conference. bTB top of the agenda

Peter Kendall warned politicians that TB would influence how rural communities
vote in the general election. He warned how the spiralling costs of the disease
are threatening to destroy the livelihoods of livestock and dairy farmers.
Hilary Benn, however, stands by his refusal to allow a badger cull on the strength
of what he called a "scientific study on the efficacy of culling" - presumably the
recent Imperial report that is based on the flawed Krebs trial see
below and written not by veterinary experts but by epidemiologists. Mr Benn
claimed that "the way out of this nightmare" is the injectable vaccine for badgers
would be available in the summer and an oral vaccination that is "being developed".
For a discussion about the limitations of present vaccines, see
below.
Nick Herbert was applauded when he told the conference that a Conservative government
would introduce a carefully-managed control of badgers in high TB areas and that

"We can no longer stand by while bovine TB claims 40,000 cattle a year, costs
£80 million a year, and destroys livelihoods every year

February 17th 2010 ~ The Way Forward - Don't miss this 25 minute film

Chris Chapman's film is highly watchable. It discusses bovine TB with the help
of farmers, vets and experts such as Dr. John Gallagher, a former government vet.
With quiet understatement it explores the devastating effects of bTB on animals
and people. It has avoided the pitfalls that one might expect of a film on a subject
that is so urgent, so heartbreaking and such a political hot potato.
There is no need to avoid the film for fear that the tragedy of the situation will
be dwelt on for effect - one is relieved by the gentleness of this film. Those who
view the problem of Bovine TB as contentious and insurmountable may find cause for
encouragement. People who dread the prospect of mass badger culling may be cheered
by the film's declaration that healthy badgers need to be looked after. And as Chris
says,

"I've purposely steered clear of the politics surrounding the issue, and
I'm hoping the film will ignite fresh debate and have all parties agreeing to at
least give it a try"

The 25 minute film can be purchased for the modest sum
of £4.99, which includes postage and packing, and is available through Chris
Chapman's website at www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk
(link mended)

February 17th 2010 ~ No easy answers are offered in "The Way Forward", and the
present problems associated with vaccination are not dodged.

Anthony Gibson, whose experience and decency have earned him widespread respect,
spells out the vaccination predicament:

" ..it's got to be used as far as possible
on healthy badgers so that you are protecting healthy badgers not concealing infection
in sick badgers - which is the big danger. So yes, use vaccination but it's got
to be used in parallel with a policy aimed at culling infected badgers, protecting
through vaccination healthy badgers. Then you can see an end to this problem. At
the moment there is no end in sight. "

The problem has always been to differentiate
"clean" setts containing uninfected badgers from "problem setts" containing infected
badgers. Richard Gard, the writer and researcher on animal and human health, evidently
has high hopes of Bryan Hill's strategy, shown briefly in the film, of assessing
healthy and infected setts. By being aware of the state of each sett, Mr Hill has
'managed' his own badgers and those of 32 adjoining farms for 11 years now - and
test results have all been clear. A countryman and farmer, he has developed tracking
skills that have been described as phenomenal. He is able, for example, to distinguish
well used trails and markers from the tracks of a single exiled badger. In the absence
of the PCR
methods we have hoped to see widely used since Warwick's research in 2006, Mr
Hill's strategy would seem to offer a genuine "Way Forward" and could prevent the
sort of widespread mass extermination that we all want to see avoided.

February 16th 2010 ~ "What we all want is healthy cattle and healthy badgers."

"The Way Forward", Chris Chapman's gem of a DVD on the subject of bovine TB,
begins sombrely with a farmer contemplating a group of home-bred cows standing peacefully
in the sunshine. Many of these beautiful and contented-looking animals, including
the bull, are condemned. "There is no way I can get back to these blood lines again."
A small farmer who loves his work and his animals, he turns away with no words as
the lorry carrying them away passes from sight up the Devonshire lane.
Anthony Gibson explains in the film how a change in policy meant that TB eradication
failed just as it was about to succeed. A farmer's wife talks about the infected
badger, shunned by the sett, whose body she found soon after it had suffered what
was evidently a slow and painful death. She is as sorry for the badgers as she is
for the cattle - but this is a problem that threatens the cows and deeply affects
everyone on the farm. The farmer says simply, "Most problems on this farm I can
solve one way or another - but this problem I can't solve..."
(The DVD, which arrived in the post today, was well worth waiting for and I am watching
it now. More reaction to it tomorrow but I am hoping already that "The Way Forward"
will be shown on television very soon.)

February 16th 2010 ~ "I have never met anybody with the ability to look at a
sett and state that there are diseased animals in it.."

Paul Caruana, an ex-Defra Field Manager from the Polwhere Wildlife Unit, writes
today:

"... Having worked on Government badger control policies since 1994,
together with other individuals with literally hundreds of years of knowledge and
experience between them... I have never met anybody with the ability to look at
a sett and state that there are diseased animals in it... Long claw marks, excavated
skulls, the distinctive badger smell - they are all an everyday event that shouldn't
necessarily lead you to assume that a sett is diseased. Have any of these so called
experts ever produced any evidence that the setts they have identified are indeed
diseased?
Farmers...are desperate for a way forward and are keen to latch onto anything they
can to get on top of the disease. The only answer for them is to get rid of the
source and you can get rid of the cattle problem. With that I fully agree. However,
the way there isn't by using scare tactics and promises of a cure when one doesn't
exist - yet.."

February 15th 2010 ~ "farmers are rather taken aback by the fury of the opposition
and feel cowed by the anger they hear on the radio."

A Welsh farmer writes, "I guess it is difficult to appreciate the level of concern
for an animal they don't much care for, and to take in the lack of concern for the
animals they do know and love that must continue endlessly to be killed. Really
cattle with their unique grazing on the ancient swards are just as much part of
and essential to the natural environment of the British Isles as badgers. Both cattle
and badgers existed here after the last ice age, but we caused aurochsen,
(the ancestor of domestic cattle) to become extinct and now have the modern cattle
with some of those ancient genes from the aurochsen to allow them to graze the native
swards of our wild plants to keep them intact and all the life they support."

February 12th 2010 ~ Imperial's report has been leapt on as "scientific proof"

The report by Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London, produced
in advance of the cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of west Wales, is based on evidence
of the flawed Krebs trial between 1998 and 2005. Hardly a basis from which to assert
that culling infected badgers is not cost-effective. Even DEFRA admitted in 2005
that the overall trapping efficiency was remarkably poor at between 20 and 60 per
cent (and see letter in Vet Record). But Paul Flynn
MP, undoubtedly a decent and kindly man who asked pertinent questions during foot
and mouth, mentions in
his blog this week

"the scientific evidence that culls do not reduce TB
in cattle."

The Imperial report is not "scientific" in the sense of "proved
by science" and indeed science is baffled in its attempts to find a solution to
TB. As the virologist Dr Ruth Watkins points out
, the TB bacterium poses problems for vaccine makers. These are being addressed
- but not yet successfully. In this dreadful situation she writes,

" I used
to believe that there was insufficient evidence about 5 years ago to justify the
killing of badgers which seemed like part of the inane response of DEFRA, Kill Kill
Kill as they so horribly responded to the FMD epidemic in doing, when of course
there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use. I have changed my mind about
badgers now."

Of course it is painful to contemplate the killing of badgers.
The alternative is to watch the slaughter of thousands more cattle, know that infected
badgers are enduring a slow, miserable and painful end, and see the threat to other
mammals, including Man, increasing.

February 11th 2010 ~ "Will he therefore have a word with the Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who seems to have lost the plot on this..."

Hansard yesterday suggests a lack
of awareness even among those MPs who ask questions about the Welsh policy. Alun
Michael was keen to seize upon yesterday's report (see
below). However, Roger Williams seems always to show a grasp of what is important:

" The Labour-led Administration in Cardiff bay have come up with a positive
programme to eliminate TB in cattle in Wales, which includes better biosecurity,
progress on the vaccination programme and a limited cull of infected wildlife. I
am sure that the Minister will agree that devolution is not about isolation; it
is about spreading best practice. Will he therefore have a word with the Secretary
of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who seems to have lost the plot
on this, and give him some good tips on how that approach could be implemented in
England as well? That would provide a UK free of TB, rather than just one country
free of it."

February 11 2010 ~ ".. there is always the risk of it spreading back in as a
result of DEFRA not taking the tough decisions necessary to tackle this disease."

Politics.co.uk
reports that after the debate above, Roger Williams added:

"The Labour led administration
in Cardiff Bay has developed a very impressive campaign to eliminate the scourge
of TB by improving biosecurity, pressing forward with vaccination and instituting
a well planned cull of infected wildlife. However, if the Welsh Assembly manages
to reduce, or even eliminate TB, in Wales, there is always the risk of it spreading
back in as a result of DEFRA not taking the tough decisions necessary to tackle
this disease.
If we are to get hold of TB then it is no good to do the hard work in Wales and
then let the disease seep back in because of similar policies not being implemented
in England.
Whilst I appreciate the Minister stating his support for the policy adopted by the
Assembly Government, he did not answer my question about whether he would raise
this issue with colleagues at DEFRA.
I will be writing to the Minister to again ask him to raise this issue with DEFRA
colleagues so that a UK wide strategy can be implemented and the whole of the UK
can move towards TB free status"

February 10th 2010 ~ The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has warned against
a kneejerk reaction

The new report by Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London produced
"ahead of" the cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of west Wales claims the benefits
"disappear" after four years. A press release from the BVA quotes Professor Bill
Reilly, President of the BVA:

"This paper clearly demonstrates that badger culling
did have an impact on the incidence of bovine TB in cattle, which is a very positive
outcome....The report, based on a single trial, concludes that badger culling is
not cost-effective, but the cost of TB to farmers and the government is already
incredibly high. Investment now could reduce the costs in the much longer term.
The BVA warns against a kneejerk reaction to this paper that would rule out badger
culling in the future." Read BVA press
release.

February 10th 2010 ~ There may be those for whom this BBC headline suggests
political pressure at work.

A BBC article, Badger
culls 'not cost effective', quotes Prof Christl Donnolly of Imperial College
and its first paragraph is: "Badger culls are unlikely to be a cost- effective way
of controlling bovine tuberculosis in cattle, a report warns."
The report by Imperial College London and Zoological Society of London has been
produced "ahead of" the cull of badgers in the TB hotspot of west Wales.

"...The
report, which studied the aftermath of cull trials in England, claims the benefits
"disappear" after four years..."

But the "cull trials" referred to were the
one Randomised Badger Culling Trial, also known by its acronym RBCT or "the Krebs
trial" between 1998 and 2005. Prof Donnolly (one of that small
group headed by Roy Anderson, John Krebs and David King in 2001) was very much
involved as deputy Chair of the Independent Scientific Group (ISG) but, as Private
Eye's Muckspreader revealed in
2006 that project was

" ... made up of scientists whose main qualification is
their complete lack of any expertise in TB. ... the Krebs trials were only a pseudo-scientific
charade, never designed to work. Even Defra admits that the percentage of badgers
culled was sometimes as low as 20 percent. .."(Read
in full)

Wales Chief Vet Christiane Glossop, not quoted until the end of
the
BBC article today, says that the culling trials in Wales are very different
from the Krebs trials :

"The differences are so significant to prevent true
comparison of the results... . We can't let this situation continue unchecked...What
we are proposing is to combine a limited cull of badgers with strict cattle control
measures within a defined area over a sustained period."

February 10 2010 ~"All that work, together with that of the veterinary investigation
officers, has effectively been ignored by both Krebs and Bourne..."

Now, in 2010, and as Muckspreader put it four years ago, "the tragedy rolls
on: for farmers, for cattle, for taxpayers, and for all those sick badgers, condemned
to a lingering death.." John Cohen, BVetMed, MRCVS of Chard, Somerset, wrote in
the Veterinary Times, June 12th 2006,

"Over the past 25 years or more, many
veterinary officers have diligently collected masses of data on thousands of breakdowns,
and have had their work scrutinised by a sceptical mini panel. All that work, together
with that of the veterinary investigation officers, has effectively been ignored
by both Krebs and Bourne. .."

(More of John Cohen's Vet Times article can be
seen at the Bovine
TB Blogspot for June 25, 2007)

February 6th 2010 ~ "A Th-2 response is of no use to contain the infection,
and will
give a positive skin test or bovigam test result either."

Warmwell.com is very grateful to the expert virologist, Ruth Watkins, for an
email received today - mainly in response to and in support of that of Dr Zellweger
below. To give a wholly inadequate summary of it, the email looks at how vaccines
work and shows how BCG vaccines are not yet effective if given after infection with
M bovis or M tuberculosis.
Unlike many bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis
are among the bacteria that "like" to be engulfed by the body's defences, retaining
the ability to grow very slowly and remain latent. They are
not killed unless there is a special stimulation of the of the cell that has engulfed
them by gamma interferon, released by the Th-1 helper T-cells. Dr Watkins explains
(in much greater detail than this summary can) how, despite mycobacteria having
a waxy outer layer, there are many molecules protruding which provide suitable antigenic
sites for antibodies to bind if any specific antibodies can be present. Extract
on BCG vaccine:

".. The careful selection of the BCG bacterial strain, such
as the Glaxo 1077 strain, has been shown to generate the Th-1 immune response....
However this Th-1 response is subverted by infection with environmental mycobacteria
such as avium species, so that the Th-1 is switched to Th-2 and the Th-2 ensures
the production of (useless) antibody...
A high mycobacterial load in an infected animal has the same effect, switching off
Th-1 and switching on Th-2. A Th-2 response is of no use to contain the infection,
and will not give a positive skin test or bovigam test result either. .... Development
of new vaccines have focussed on attempting to ensure the Th-1 or protective effect
of BCG is sustained despite environmental mycobacteria exposure- this goal is not
yet adequately achieved..."

February 6th 2010 ~ Revised DEFRA TB leaflet on camelids - the section regarding
the use of anti tuberculin drugs has been removed (and other minor changes)

"...Reactor camelids must be slaughtered. However there are
no statutory provisions at present to compensate owners...... if owners agree to
have their animals tested for TB at the government's expense, Animal Health will
ask for written consent to release for slaughter any animals identified as reactors
prior to that testing taking place.
A flat rate ex gratia payment may be made for any reactors removed... Any
non-reactor animals that need to be culled as dangerous contacts or suspect clinical
cases of TB may also be eligible...".

February 5th 2010 ~ "I agree that an oral vaccine would be much more effective,
and we are working very hard, and providing extra funding, to bring that about as
soon as possible." Hilary Benn

James Paice had asked (Hansard
yesterday) "Does the Secretary of State really consider it to be a success that
over the past 12 years, 150,000 head of cattle in the south-west alone have been
slaughtered, and that the number continues to rise? Does he really believe that
his current policies have any prospect whatever of controlling the disease, let
alone of reducing or eradicating it? As he well knows, until we have an oral vaccine
in four years' time, any work with vaccine is bound to be on a trial basis only
no one envisages that an injectable vaccine, which is involved in the trials that
he was talking about, has any real significant prospect of deployment, because for
that to happen one must catch all the badgers. When is he going to get a grip of
this matter? He quotes the ISG regularly, but its conclusions were never peer reviewed,
even if the evidence it gathered was. Will he accept that he is drawing sustenance
from conclusions that were not peer reviewed?"
Mr Benn also revealed that the total amount DEFRA has spent on "measures to control
bovine tuberculosis in each of the last three years is £69.6 million in 2006-07,
£65.3 million in 2007-08 and £84.2 million in 2008-09." See
whole TB section Hansard yesterday)

February 4th 2010 ~ Why BCG does not perform like other vaccines - BCG considered
by Dr Ueli Zellweger

The badger vaccination campaign envisaged for England using BCG will need to
be repeated at least every twenty months. As has been said several times on this
website there are, unfortunately, great difficulties involved in using BCG vaccine
with animals. Here, Dr Zellweger summarises
the problems as he sees them. Extract:

" ... the tubercle bacteria have a waxy
coat to which antibodies cannot attach. Tuberculosis therefore causes a so called
humoral body defence...Any BCG vaccine stimulates this humoral defence only but
never prevents an infection; it may keep it on a low scale maybe. There is no other
vaccine available..." Read in full

And
apart from taking and killing cattle and the constant exhortations to farmers to
take care of their own farm security and hygiene, there are no other plans yet afoot
to tackle the ever increasing problem of TB in England. (Emails
to warmwell.com giving other views are also very welcome).

In 2009 there was a 22% increase from the previous years in new incidence of
TB in herds in north Wales and a 39% increase on the numbers of cattle slaughtered.
Dr Glossop's words to farmers last week are quoted on the Welsh Assembly Government
website:

".. in areas where the disease is endemic, like west Wales, the disease
is present in both badgers and cattle, which is why we have to tackle the disease
in both species. Only dealing with cattle will not be enough because badgers are
infected.
Science has proved that badgers do play a role in the transmission of bovine TB
and while I hope that in future vaccination of badgers will be a part of Welsh policy,
we have to get rid of the infection first before being in a position to vaccinate
and protect badgers."

February 2 2010 ~ "the precautionary principle will be applied ..."

A Wiltshire farmer writes to comment on the way the government chooses to apply
what it likes to refer to as the precautionary principle.

"I see Ed Milliband
quoted as saying, in relation to the debate about Climate Change, that we should
adopt "the precautionary principle". This same principle was invoked to justify
the removal from the food chain of cattle that could conceivably have carried BSE.
This was done at enormous cost and still we don't know if it achieved anything.
I'm sure this was the thinking, although I don't remember if the actual words were
used or who said them, to justify the bloody and illegal contiguous cull of animals
in the 2001 F & M epidemic. Will Mr Benn adopt the precautionary principle in
respect of TB?"

He answers that he fears that the danger to people and cattle
will be forgotten and the precautionary principle applied only in order to protect
badgers.

January 30 2010 ~ "How can there be faith in the system?"

"...she is quite right (I think) in saying the whole trouble
with testing is the inability to test the whole picture (badgers and cows) and that
the test itself is unreliable. We had never had TB in our ring fenced farm. We found
three dead badgers over the previous year and that same year, 5 cows failed the
TB test.
On slaughter, three had lesions, 2 showed nothing at all.
Our Hereford Bull then failed the Test. He had passed the TB Test FIVE times previously
but upon slaughter had open lesions on lung, liver and chest. The further puzzle
is that if he was the source of the infection why did we not suffer more reactors?
There is a 60 day gap between tests so - am I to believe the amount of infection
in the bull had developed in 60 days?"

These sorts of questions are continuing
to go unanswered - and in the English hotspots, the frustration and misery continue.

28/29 January 2010 ~ "although we all like badgers, badgers themselves suffer
terribly as a result of this disease."

Daniel Kawczynski in Wednesday's debate on
Dairy Farming mentioned the difficulty of talking to the Wildlife Trust in his
constituency :

" The first question to me was, "Well, Mr. Kawczynski you horrible
chap, why do you want to kill all those lovely badgers?" Of course, the emblem of
the Wildlife Trusts movement is a badger and so passionate are the members of the
Shropshire Wildlife Trust about badgers that they have even taken my wife and me
to look at a badger sett in my constituency. They gave my daughter a cuddly badger
soft toy.... The problem is that, although we all like badgers, badgers themselves
suffer terribly as a result of this disease. I have to say that the next Conservative
Government must tackle this issue of badgers and I expect to see a limited cull
of badgers, should a Conservative Government be elected to office. I make no bones
about saying that, because I am absolutely convinced that culling must be part of
the process of controlling badgers, no matter how controversial it is."

28/29 January 2010 ~ " In cattle, the attempt to detect all infections, latent,
early and active in early and late stages in cattle and kill all these animals is
doomed to failure..."

A lengthy and self-confessedly sad email from the
expert virologist, Ruth Watkins today explains that because the detection of
all infections doesn't occur and there is a continual adding of new cattle cases
by exposure and infection from other infected species (in addition to possibly other
infected cattle), the current attempt to detect all stages of bTB infection in cattle
is quite hopeless.
She writes,

".. to tackle M bovis infection in cattle, the infection in other
species in which it is endemic will also have to be addressed. Badger experts are
implacable in their opposition but none are microbiologists and there their arguments
fall down.
I used to believe that there was insufficient evidence - about 5 years ago - to
justify the killing of badgers, the killing of which seemed like part of the inane
response of DEFRA, Kill Kill Kill as they so horribly responded to the FMD epidemic
(when of course there was a highly effective vaccine ready for use.)
I have changed my mind about badgers now."

The email reminds us that the only
way to control the M bovis epidemic is to make sure that each infected animal infects
less than one other on average - something that applies equally to both main endemic
infected populations in the UK: cattle and badgers. Read
in full

January 28 2010 ~ "TB hangs over us like the sword of Damocles..."

Part of an email received today:
"...I find Hilary Benn's attitude to farming unacceptable. Do not farmers have feelings
that need to be considered as well as the "General Public" - who do not have to
deal with the every day horror of TB whether it be in badgers or cattle?

He
dismisses how farmers feel and puts the general public first who are totally divorced
from the horror. ...."

January 28 2010 ~ Is Hilary Benn's justification out of date?

The Farmers
Guardian reports today on Hilary Benn's letter to the Guardian in which he said:

"...My decision against a badger cull was made after careful consideration of
the scientific evidence, practicality and public acceptability, following discussions
with farmers, vets and wildlife groups.
We have tried badger culling, but the conclusion of the Independent Scientific Group
was that badger culling 'cannot meaningfully contribute to the future control' of
TB in cattle in Britain..."

But while many will sympathise with Mr Benn's distaste
for badger culling, the overview of the 67 page Badgers
and cattle TB: the final report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB
the Fourth Report of Session 2007 - 08 of the EFRA committee - show that a subsequent
review of the ISG's Final Report, produced at the Government's request,

"..produced
a different interpretation of the same basic data. Both reports said that badger
culling would have an overall beneficial effect. However, whilst the ISG concluded
that culling would make a "modest difference" in the incidence of cattle TB, the
King report concluded that at 300km

"3. There is no single
measure which will achieve the eradication of bovine TB. We will need to have in
place and use a range of tools: effective diagnostic tests; targeted cattle controls;
and vaccination for badgers and cattle; and to remain open to the possibility of
using badger culling. ...." (Read
in full)

January 25 2010 ~ " The stress and worry is unbelievable to those not living
it on a daily basis...."

One comment following the TB
blog quoted below, sums up the grinding misery for those most affected by the
threat of bovine TB . Lesley from Devon (whose
blog is always upbeat and readable) wrote: "... Goats are vulnerable too of
course so I have a vested interest in knowing how all my unfortunate neighbours
are getting on. It's just such an endless treadmill. Clear for a few months, then
down again, then clear, then down again. The stress and worry is unbelievable to
those not living it on a daily basis."

January 21 2010 ~ "inconclusive on a standard reading became reactor
status on severe."

".. As they had all calved around
the time of the test, and as Defra were not prepared to take the calves as well,
I kept the cows on until their offspring could be weaned.
Then we wormed and fluked every animal in August, which delayed their departure
- at least for the food chain - until October.
They had no lesions at slaughter, so we were back onto 'standard' interpretation
for the next round of testing and I had booked this for November. But AH had other
ideas, and having consulted its testing bible, said no. It must be 60 days after
the cattle had left. Even though their departure had been delayed and even though
their calves were still here. ..." Read
on

January 21 2010 ~"our members see the devastation caused by the disease every
day - in terms of the welfare of both cattle and badgers, and the impact on the
farming community"

Following George Monbiot's Guardian Comment article on Tuesday, "When
our economic interests are at stake, the war on nature resumes" the letters
in the Guardian today illustrate what one writer calls "the gulf of misunderstanding
which bedevils the debate". The lead letter is from Professor Bill Reilly, the President
of the British Veterinary Association and it attempts to explain why vet organisations
are supporting the Welsh action. Of Monbiot's attack, he says it..:

" would
have been better directed at the secretary of state, who has consistently refused
to accept that an infectious disease such as tuberculosis must be tackled in all
species, - irrespective of whether they are farmed or wild.
As organisations representing vets across the UK, the British Veterinary Association
(BVA) and British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) have taken a very strong
line on tackling bovine tuberculosis because our members see the devastation caused
by the disease every day - in terms of the welfare of both cattle and badgers, and
the impact on the farming community.
.... We did not take the decision to support this badger cull lightly, but until
we get on top of TB the vast majority of animals that come into contact with it
will suffer..."

January 20th 2010 ~ bTB vaccine

Dr Colin Fink writes to point out that

"Your correspondent, Hugh Coryn,
has highlighted a microbiological problem rather than an administrative problem.
Even BCG ( TB attenuated live organisms) has only 30-60 % efficacy in humans- and
there is no TB vaccine for any of the other species - M Leprae or M Bovis
or M Tubercle. We have no suitable vaccine and the nature of the organism
makes vaccine development a continuing problem.
To the best of my knowledge this dilemma is pertinent to all species who may be
infected with Mycobacteria."

His point is that it is a little unfair to criticise
institutions unless the problem is administrative and their fault. It is also interesting
to see what Dr Fink wrote some time ago summarising
the problems of diagnosis for TB.

The Farmers
Guardian reports: "The two presidential candidates locked horns for the first
time in the South East regional hustings in London yesterday (Monday) - the first
of 7 hustings across all regions of England this week."
Peter Kendall is quoted:

"We wanted a government department that backed us and
they are just starting to do it. Because we have changed the perception of farming
from being a pain in the backside to one that is seen through media and government
as a valuable resource we now have the best chance to change the TB situation and
we must make sure we knock it home..."

Derek Mead, however, is quoted as saying
that Defra treated the NFU "as a rubber stamping organisation" Read
in full

January 18/19th 2010 ~ "Dr Gillett may be tragically correct in saying vaccination
is not currently the answer to TB in cattle."

Email received from the veterinary surgeon, Hugh
Coryn who feels that a long hard fresh look at the epidemiology and treatment of
TB in all species is long overdue - Extract:

"... If one considers medical
vaccine campaigns; Small Pox, Polio, Diphtheria, Measles. Meningitis...the list
goes on, adequately funded of course, why then should vaccination in animals not
be a valid option? Indeed there are many examples of the use of vaccines in both
pets and farm animals... The current EU policy of a ban on vaccination is illogical
and tainted with commercial interest. The UK authorities should be prepared to challenge
it....... "

Read in full
(As we say below, warmwell.com is in no position to endorse any opinion given, but
we are grateful to those veterinary and medical professionals or farmers with informed
comments to make by email and who
give permission for such views to be published here.)

January 18/19th 2010 ~ 7 page leaflet for Alpaca (and Llama) owners

DEFRA, in partnership with the Welsh Government, Natural Scotland, the CLA and
Animal Health, has produced a 7 page bTB leaflet for camelid owners which can be
accessed here. UPDATE The leaflet has been updated.
Here. The photos of alpacas may
delight lovers of these attractive creatures. The advice about the near impossibility
of treating infected animals is, however, extremely bleak. (page 6):

".... Many
treatment regimes, whilst seemingly capable of resolving the clinical signs of TB,
will not result in a complete microbiological cure (elimination of all the bacilli)
and may result in latent infections and potentially the development of drug resistance,
resulting in serious public and animal health risks. It is also doubtful that camelids
would survive such treatment, as the drugs would be likely to destroy the bacteria
essential for rumenal function.
Additionally, owners need to be aware that by treating animals for TB they are jeopardising
the only method of control currently available to infected herds (testing and slaughter
of any positives) due to the effects the drugs may have on the immunological responses
detected by the ante-mortem diagnostic tests.Animal Health may, therefore, be unable
to undertake any TB testing of infected camelid herds if they become aware that
owners are administering anti-TB drugs to some of their animals."

Owners should
read the leaflet in full (pdf) for advice about discouraging
badgers and taking particular care not to introduce or move animals that could be
infected.

On the subject of bTB statistics, the Bovine
TB Blogspot points out that at the Oxford Farming Conference, Hilary Benn hinted
that "unofficial Defra figures are showing that disease levels fell during 2009."

"...with only sentinel tested cattle under any semblance of Defra control, and
a maintenance reservoir of TB encouraged by statute to let rip, in this instance
it may not be the most accurate. Defra statistics have several lines of monthly
statistics - or they do if they are updated [more on that later] - each giving different
information, or the same information in different format..
There is a column showing the number of herds registered on the VetNet system, another
showing how many of these are under restriction because of a 'TB incident'; then
further totals, including how many of these are 'New Breakdowns', or even 'New Confirmed
Breakdowns'. And it is latter which the Minister was clutching when he spoke last
week. And it is this heavily sanitised figure which he presents to his European
masters...."

January 16/18 2010 ~ " Talk of vaccination is an unfortunate or contrived distraction
from the main issue. ."

Dr Paul Gillett writes in some detail today, and, as he says "reluctantly",
on the subject of bTB vaccines. Extract:

"...Research
into possible use of vaccines should of course continue but should be seen as exactly
that - research. At present a control policy based on vaccination with all its attendant
uncertainties and prolonged delays is a luxury we can't afford to consider at a
time of increasing numbers of affected cattle and badgers. Talk of vaccination is
an unfortunate or contrived distraction from the main issue of producing a coherent,
co-ordinated set of measures to control the disease in animals, this will need to
include, however unpalatable, selective culling of badgers as it currently does
of cattle. Anything less than that will be a disservice to farmers, cattle, badgers
and the tax payer."

January 16/18 2010 ~ The miserable consequences of bTB for badgers

A description of the consequences of bTB infection for a badger sett is explained
here in another email from the very seriously concerned vet, Dr Zellweger. As he
explains, healthy badgers heal quickly from minor wounds, but when bTB is involved
it is different. "The very slow multiplying bacteria will sooner or later cause
smelly excretions, wild flesh and pus which might be infectious - permanently or
temporarily. Wounds may be licked every now and then by the very badger or by his
mates even. New infection is around the corner, but this time in the intestine.
If a sow with bTB has cubs - or any other sibling of the same sett have TB - these
youngsters may get infected in their very first weeks of life by their own mother.
bTB causes a very slow death after suffering over months or even more than a year...What
a life prospect ..." As the vet warns,

"Worldwide TB causes millions of victims
every year; the main part of those are caused by the human strain Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, but bTB ( Mycobacterium bovis ) is equally infectious and dangerous
for people."

January 15th 2010 ~ ".. for the 42% of farms in the cull area which have suffered
from TB since 2003, the decision of the Welsh Assembly government is long overdue."
"

The FUW's Director of Agricultural Policy is Dr Nicholas Fenwick. His article
in the Guardian
yesterday: "Welsh farmers will be relieved that the badger cull is going ahead"
is an attempt to explain the scientific basis for the link between bTB infected
badgers and the spread to cattle - and how removing badgers by culling is the only
effective solution available at present. He takes a calm look at the evidence to
date but notes that:

".. ... campaigns by groups such as the RSPCA and the Badger
Trust have been overwhelmingly successful in distracting public opinion from the
less palatable but nevertheless real evidence."

On vaccination he reluctantly
concludes

".. ...for those who remember the same discussions taking place 20
years ago, vaccination seems like the proverbial end of the rainbow.
So while those who are against culling can base their views on a range of arguments,
one that doesn't hold water is that badger culling doesn't work. It does work, and
for the 42% of farms in the cull area which have suffered from TB since 2003, the
decision of the Welsh Assembly government is long overdue."

Read
in full Comments below the article show that there is still public ignorance
and outrage that fails to appreciate the seriousness of the situation. (Few farmers
or vets, it seems, have commented.)

January 15th 2010 Those who - rightly - want to see effective vaccination for
both badgers and cattle are evidently unaware of the Catch 22 nature of EU policy

Based as always on trade considerations, cattle vaccines for bovine tuberculosis
are currently prohibited under EU legislation. A validated Diva test is needed to
get vaccination even considered - but the EU rules have made it unviable in recent
years for vaccine companies to carry out the necessary research and development.
(More below) Vaccine companies are not charities
and will put money and expertise only into products for which they know there will
be a market.

January 14th 2010 ~ "The earliest projected date for the use of a BCG cattle
vaccine with a DIVA test to Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals is 2015."

Hansard
reports Jim Fitzpatrick's answer yesterday on when he expects a diagnostic test
to differentiate between infected and vaccinated animals to become available for
cattle. As always, our membership of the EU means that the Commission needs to give
the go-ahead. As Mr Fitzpatrick says, "The possible future use of cattle vaccines
has been discussed with the European Commission and the Commission has indicated
that an accredited DIVA test will be critical for a cattle vaccination policy. DEFRA
will continue to work closely with the Commission and other member states to minimise
the time required to make the required legislative changes once the necessary scientific
information is available."
(Many might think that Mr Fitzpatrick side-stepped a direct answer to Norman
Baker's question: ".....what recent assessment he has made of the relationship
between badger populations and the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle....")

January 14th 2010 ~ "I read the instructions for TB testing alpacas and the
like; whoever thought these up has never worked in the field..."

The vet, Hugh Coryn, MRCVS writes,

" If you took twenty different Veterinary
Surgeons in a field test of the technique you would be hard pressed to get two sets
of similar results; the test is just too difficult under cold wet field conditions!
Unfortunately Defra and its predecessor Maff does not like comment or ideas from
those who work in the field and have an inbuilt resistance to outside ideas.
All governments are too close to entrenched commercial interests.
Thus resistance to vaccination - totally illogical in many ways."

January 12th 2010 ~ "oral vaccination appears to be as effective as subcutaneous
vaccination. But other safety issues still need to be resolved before the vaccine
could be used in wildlife"

The US journal ScienceDaily
last year, reported on the bTB work of microbiologists at the National Animal Disease
Center (NADC) in Ames, Iowa,

"...NADC veterinary officers Ray Waters and Mitch
Palmer and molecular biologist Tyler Thacker, are working on several fronts to optimize
bovine tuberculosis diagnostic tests and vaccinations for both wildlife and domestic
livestock. For instance, Palmer is using white-tailed deer, which are a significant
reservoir of bovine tuberculosis, to test experimental vaccines for potential bovine
tuberculosis control in wildlife.
So far his studies indicate that vaccines can be effective in decreasing the severity
of the disease, and that oral vaccination appears to be as effective as subcutaneous
vaccination. But other safety issues still need to be resolved before the vaccine
could be used in wildlife."

January 11th 2010 ~ "It clearly will not provide a cure, then that is not the
object. It is to attempt to try and reduce the shedding and gain experience of baiting.."

Hugh Coryn MRCVS writes this evening:

"I agree with Dr Fink,surely it is
worth a trial. Personally I feel the use of selected antibiotics alone would be
better than complicating the issue with contraceptive medication. It clearly will
not provide a cure,then that is not the object. It is to attempt to try and reduce
the shedding and gain experience of baiting prior to hopefully one day being be
able to use oral vaccine.
Any other policy than vaccination, leaves the problem of the infected setts and
the problem of re colonisation. I have noted over many years that when wildlife
is culled or dies,those that re colonise will always adopt the same paths and habitats
as their predecessors, so will dig out destroyed setts with reinfection."

In reply to what has been said below, Dr Fink writes today: " I am sure that
Dr Ueli Zellweger's concerns about antibiotic dosage and effective and adequate
treatment ( mentioned by Dr Paul Gillett) together the problem of adequate hormonal
administration for contraception in badgers, are both valid and reasonable concerns."

"As DEFRA do not seem to come up with anything to deal with the problem of cattle
M.Bovis infection and the wildlife reservoirs most particularly in badgers, I am
glad that we have ( courtesy of your website) at least had an open debate. These
ideas ( which may not be practical for the reasons argued) could be tried on a pilot
scale and that does not stop a trial of sett culls in hot spots, suggested by Paul
Gillett.
I am trying not to fiddle whilst Rome burns. All ideas of a practical nature need
to be tried out, and the results monitored. Someone else may have more imaginative
ideas and if they would only throw these ideas into the pot....."

January 10th 2010 ~ It is very tricky to say for how long one treatment is effective.

Writing today in reply to Dr Fink (below)
the Swiss vet, Dr Ueli Zellweger is concerned that, as with antibiotics, the correct
dosage of oral contraceptive is vital. It has to be given according to individual
bodyweight, he says.

"The oldest sow might be almost double the size of her
daughters and when all females of a sett are treated there is good risk that the
pecking order is sooner or later getting upset, apart of the fact that with each
and every hormone therapy there is a risk that something goes wrong.."

Read
Dr Zellweger's latest email in full.
(While warmwell.com is in no position to endorse any opinion given, we are particularly
grateful to those veterinary and medical professionals or farmers with informed
comments to make by
email and who give permission for such views to be published here.)

January 8th 2010 ~ "it would be very difficult to control the dosage for individual
badgers and some of the appropriate antibiotics are quite toxic if large doses are
taken and likely to induce resistance in low dose."

Dr Paul Gillett writes again in response to Colin
Fink's comments. He agrees that what is required is "a coherent and co-ordinated
set of measures to reduce the transmission of bovine TB in badgers and prevent as
far as possible the infection reaching cattle or alpacas" He says:

"...Such
a policy would need to include identification of infected setts, something I am
assured is possible by informed assessment. The assessment would need to be co-ordinated
with cattle testing so that infection in cattle and badgers are treated at the same
time. If this is not done at the same time there is a real danger of shuttling infection
between the two."

However, Dr Gillett has some reservations
about the use of antibiotic bait. More
(It is interesting to see a commentary on Dr Gillett's views
on the bTB Blog via
Farmers Weekly here.)UPDATE In reply to Dr Gillett, Dr Fink writes:

" I am a bit more hopeful about antibiotic feeding than you . Badgers are very
amenable to feeding stations and will quickly habituate. The risks you mention of
course are real and this policy would require 6 months of intensive feeding with
help from wildlife groups. Some OC (oral contraceptives) in the feed would not do
any harm.
The observation that well fed badgers live in apparent pathogen harmony with cattle,
is more than interesting. It may be highly important." (Dr
Fink's email)

January 7/8 2010 ~ "I do not think that any single policy is a panacea and we
need to consider combined approaches..."

Responding positively to the comments of Dr
Gillett below, Dr Colin Fink writes about the need
to consider combined approaches; to reduce the carriage and excretion of organisms,
minimise population pertubation by using selective sett culling, but in conjunction,
consider using both contraception and triple antibiotic loaded bait repeatedly around
the sett. Extract:

"Any combined approach will need very careful policing and
implementation. Surely that is a better investment than constantly killing herds
of cattle and all that which goes into raising these animals?
We have no other alternative as vaccines are not available because the organism
is not amenable, and we are losing herds of cattle, alpacas etc and increasing the
organism load in the wild population at an alarming rate."